Two monster storms threaten millions in Asia and along US East Coast
Mangkhut and Florence are the names of two of the most powerful storms on the planet.
Mangkhut has now been classified as a super typhoon by the Hong Kong Observatory.
The United Nations Global Disaster Alerting Coordination system‚ GDACS‚ warns Mangkhut "is expected to have a high humanitarian impact based on the storm strength and the affected population in the past and the forecasted path.
"Up to 43.3 million people may be affected by wind speeds of cyclone strength or above."
A zoom on the eye of Super Typhoon #Mangkhut (#26W) over the last 4 hours (02:42-0640Z or 10:40am-2:40pm local 12th Sep 2018). Beautiful! #SuperTyphoonMangkhut
— James Holbeach (@opplevelse) September 12, 2018
Thanks to #Himawari8 rapidscan, band 3, 690nm (Red) pic.twitter.com/v2qfTTScBQ
Here's a satellite image gif of #Mangkhut crossing 135° longitude at 0600 UTC (2PM local time) and becoming #OmpongPH.
— Ariel Rojas (@bimboy_palaboy) September 12, 2018
Official time of PAR entry will be announced by PAGASA. pic.twitter.com/DW3b520JsO
NASAHurricane► RT NASA_SPoRT: Super Typhoon #Mangkhut is located west of Guam with max sustained winds of 140 KT, gusting to 170 KT. The JTWC expects the typhoon to maintain intensity as it approaches the northern #Philippines later this week. (JMA H… pic.twitter.com/EVwyIND582
— Safety & Security (@dyaalertas) September 12, 2018
Florence is a Category 4 hurricane labelled by the US National Hurricane Centre as "an extremely dangerous major hurricane"‚ packing 225km/h winds. It's predicted to make landfall most likely in North Carolina on the the US East coast some time early on Friday morning South African time.
The Washington Post reports "large and dangerous‚ Hurricane Florence is drawing ever closer to the coast of the Carolinas‚ where it threatens to become the most intense storm to strike the region in at least 25 years‚ since Hugo. The Category 4 storm is likely to produce 'catastrophic' flooding in the eastern Carolinas as well as destructive winds."
Watch tonight's sunset over #HurricaneFlorence, captured by the #GOESEast satellite, as the storm draws closer to the East Coast. Latest real-time imagery: https://t.co/bKPHNSAQeq pic.twitter.com/k79Q3v8CuR
— NOAA Satellites (@NOAASatellites) September 12, 2018
Fleeing #Florence.
— Gary Cooper (@GaryCooperWTVD) September 12, 2018
I40 westbound at US 70, Tuesday, 8:15pm. pic.twitter.com/Xz39AN8DC5
An instrument on our Terra satellite collects images at nine different angles that can be stitched together to form a 3D look at #Florence's clouds. pic.twitter.com/XXRXOa8xCY▶ NASAEarth
— Safety & Security (@dyaalertas) September 12, 2018