BYU–Hawaii students from Asian countries such as Japan and Taiwan said typhoons are common in their areas. However, Typhoon Soudelor was one of the more recent damaging typhoons to pass through the Pacific.
Typhoon Soudelor passed over the island of Saipan leaving the island without power and about 808 homes were destroyed. The typhoon continued on its path to Japan, Taiwan and China where more than 30 people were killed, according to various news sources including CNN and Taiwan’s Central News Agency.
Soudelor slammed the tiny 44-square-mile island of Saipan with the intensity of a Category 2 typhoon recording howling winds of up to 105 mph and gusts up to 120 mph knocking down trees and wooden power poles, according to the Associated Press.
Additionally, cars were flipped over and the island’s power plant lost parts of its roof and was left flooded, the Pacific News Center reported.
The American Red Cross labeled Soudelor as one of the most damaging typhoons to hit Saipan since Typhoon Kim in 1986. President Barack Obama declared the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas (CNMI) as a federal disaster area allowing residents to receive government aid, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“Every year typhoons happen in Japan,” said Hideo Kyotani, a senior from Osaka, Japan studying accounting. “Schools get canceled. No one goes out, and we close the shutters. It’s very rare to lose electricity in Japan and the city drainage system is usually very good so there are no floods,” Kyotani added.
Prior to making landfall in Taiwan, Soudelor battered Japan’s southern Ryukyu Islands with sustained winds of up to 101 mph and gusts up to 145 mph, the strongest recorded in relation to the storm throughout its path, according to the Weather Channel.
On Aug.10, a family of four was swept out to sea by residual swells from the typhoon; three drowned while the fourth, an 8-year-old girl, was rescued, reported Yahoo! Japan.
“Typhoons are often where I’m from,” said Ethan Tsai, a senior from Taiwan studying graphic design. “This one was bad, there are so many videos of the damage,” Tsai added typhoon season usually runs from July to October each year.
The center of Soudelor made landfall on eastern Taiwan at around 4:40 a.m. local time on Aug. 8. By mid-morning, the storm had maximum sustained winds of up to 107 mph, according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau.
At the peak of the storm, 4.85 million households lost electricity making it the largest blackout on record in Taiwan due to a storm, Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported.
“In order to prepare properly for a typhoon, we get tape and put big X’s on the windows,” said marketing senior Claire Mao, who is from Taoyuan, Taiwan. Mao explained that the X’s on windows help prevent the windows from shattering if broken.
Soudelor left 26 people dead in eastern China and seven others missing. Maximum gusts of up to 119 mph were recorded after Soudelor made landfall on China’s Fujian province the night of Aug. 8, The Weather Channel also reported.
The storm is regarded as the most severe to hit the Fujian Province in 10 years forcing the evacuation of approximately 513,900 people and destroying more than 6,900 homes. According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, preliminary economic losses exceeded almost $2.14 billion in China.