Typhoon Parma

Post Landfall 1 | Summary
Posting Date: October 5, 2009, 1:00:00 PM

Tropical Cyclone Parma made landfall in the northern Philippines at about 3:00 pm local time (3:00 am EDT) on Saturday, October 3rd, as a Category 1 typhoon. It brought powerful winds and heavy rain to the northeastern province of Cagayan, causing extensive flooding, numerous landslides, widespread damage—including destroying over 20,000 tons of rice—and the deaths of at least 16 people. Fortunately for Manila, which had not yet fully dried out from the record 40-year rainfall it received from Typhoon Ketsana only a week earlier (which flooded nearly 80% of the city), Typhoon Parma passed farther to the north. However, several areas, Laoag, the capital of Ilocos Norte, and Vigan city (about 100 km/60 miles to the south), were inundated as badly as Manila was earlier. Laoag received about 40 centimeters (16 inches) of rain and Vigan about 42 centimeters (16.5 inches). By the time it crossed into the South China Sea, Parma had weakened to tropical storm status. As of the JTWC 11:00 am Advisory on Monday, it had remained virtually stationary for the previous 12 hours in an area about 610 km (380 miles) east-southeast of Hong Kong. It is expected to increase in strength and to remain in this area—hardly 100 km (60 miles) off the Philippines northwest coast—for as much as the next five days. At this location, however, Parma is close enough to Taiwan to also cause heavy rainfall on the island. In anticipation that perhaps 150 centimeters (60 inches) of rain could fall in the next several days, causing significant flooding, Taiwan officials have evacuated more than 6,500 people from the southern end of the island. Parma’s future course is uncertain. High pressure systems to its east and west, depending on which predominates, could steer the storm in either direction—and it has begun to interact with Super Typhoon Melor, additionally complicating its development. The AIR Tropical Cyclone team will continue to monitor the progress of tropical cyclones Melor and Parma and will issue updates as warranted.

Post Landfall 1 | Downloads
Posting Date: October 5, 2009, 1:00:00 PM