If a super typhoon is forecast to pass within your area, you can do many things to prepare your family. Though you can’t avoid the coming disaster, you can minimize the potential danger a super typhoon can bring. Understanding that tropical storms and typhoons can kill people proves that you should be prepared. The preparation you make will have an impact on how you survive the imminent disaster. So, the only question now left is, do you know how to prepare for a super typhoon?
In this article, we’re going to share with you the dangers a super typhoon can leave behind. We’re also giving you some tips on what to before, during, and after a super typhoon.
How to Prepare for a Super Typhoon
Although we can’t forecast any weather systems like thunderstorms, tornadoes, and tsunami, radio and TV news can be used to plan for potential impacts of heavy weather conditions.
Here is what you need to do before a super typhoon hit your location:
- Store sufficient food stock and clean water
- Prepare instant foods that do not need to be cooked.
- Keep easy to reach flashlights, torches, and battery-operated radios.
- Examine the house and restore any weak areas.
- Stay connected with the new weather forecast still.
- Harvest crops that can be harvested.
- Place a healthy environment for domesticated animals.
- Place your boats in a protected zone.
Here is what you need to do during a super typhoon:
- Keep inside the house.
- Keep posted with the latest weather report.
- In the absence of clean drinking water, boil the water for at least 20 minutes.
- Keep an eye on candles or gas lamps.
- Do not wade into floodwaters to prevent electrocution and diseases.
- Ignore such updates if there is a need to travel to an emergency center.
- Lock the windows and remove the central control switch.
- Place critical machinery and possessions on an elevated area.
- Don’t follow the path leading to the water.
Here is what you need to do after the super typhoon:
- If your house is ruined, ensure that when you return, it is still secure and stable.
- Beware of harmful creatures like snakes that might have infiltrated your house.
- Look out for live cables or outlets that are submerged in water.
- Report to officials about damaged electrical cables and falling electrical poles.
- Do not encourage water to build up in tires, cans, or pots to prevent providing a suitable environment for breeding mosquitoes.
Dangers of a Super Typhoon
Whenever a typhoon reaches landfall, the loss of life and property damage is primarily attributed. Like the movie ‘Thunderstorm,’ you don’t want to be caught in the middle of a hurling storm unprepared.
The list of dangers associated with typhoons is as follows:
- Flood Surge & High Tide Storm surge and full waves created by hurricanes present the greatest threat to life and properties along the coast.
Storm Surge is an extreme increase in water caused by winds from a hurricane. Storm surge can reach 20 feet and cover hundreds of miles of coastline.
Keep in mind the mix of flood surge and average tide increases after a hurricane.
The disruptive force of storm surge and massive battering waves will contribute to loss of life and the devastation of houses. Storm surge can move inland for several miles. - Super typhoon can also generate heavy, torrential rains above six feet, which can contribute to deadly and devastating floods. Flooding is the main danger for people living inland from tropical cyclones. Because of heavy rainfall, flash flooding, described as a sudden increase in water levels, may occur quickly. After the hurricane, long-term flooding on rivers and streams can continue for many days.
The amount of rainfall linked to the intensity of tropical cyclones should be considered when flash floods occur. Measuring the geography of the area can tell if your home is elevated from the ground. - High winds tropical typhoons may force winds that are powerful enough to place anyone trapped in them at risk. Emergency managers intend to get their evacuations full, and their personnel covered until tropical-storm-force winds in the workplace.
Winds of the Hurricane-force, 74 mph or more, can damage buildings and homes. During the storms, objects such as signage, roofing material, siding, and tiny things left outside are flying projectiles. Winds will remain far inland at hurricane intensity increases. The devastating hurricane caused major damage through central Florida, with gusts of more than 100 mph.
What is Super Typhoon
A super typhoon is the size of a Magnitude 4 or 5 storm, indicating it has 150 mph or more average sustained winds. It is essentially a mighty typhoon, with the strength, in addition to heavy winds, to cause large storm surges and torrential rain.
A typhoon with extreme wind strength comes with a higher than or equivalent to 130 knots is considered a “super typhoon.” Category 3 and above is labeled a “storm.” A tropical cyclone less than Category 1 is not an official normal “typhoon” but can be known as a “typhoon.”
Hurricanes and typhoons are the same but are categorized according to where they live. Hurricanes are tropical storms that develop over the North Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific North-East.
Typhoons can form across the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean. Typhoons develop across the Pacific Ocean to the Northwest. When tropical storms enter urban areas, they carry heavy winds and rain that can wreak havoc. A typhoon has a wind strength of 73-91 mph, while an extreme typhoon has at least 92 mph of winds. However, a super typhoon has at least 120 mph of wind speed.
Conclusion
Most people who are not prepared to stay inside the house are close to danger. But if you’re smart enough, planning how to prepare for a super typhoon can save your life and your family. Keep in mind that a super typhoon can kill, so you don’t want to be in the middle of a super typhoon empty-handed. We always advise you to prepare and plan before a disaster because you don’t know what happens in the aftermath. Get more tips on emergency plans.