Typhoon Podul

Typhoon Podul crossed southern Taiwan on Wednesday, closing schools and government offices, causing transport disruption, but ultimately sparing any major damage.

ALERT™ subscribers can download similar stochastic event (SSE) IDs for Typhoon Podul’s impacts in Taiwan from the Downloads tab of this posting on the ALERT website. Compatible with Touchstone® and Touchstone Re™, the SSEs were selected based on the event’s track, minimum central pressure, estimated winds, forward speed, and landfall angle. They should only be used with exposures in Taiwan.

The storm hit Taitung County on the east coast shortly after noon Wednesday, moving across the south of the island at about 36 kilometers (22 miles) per hour. A wind gust of 155 kph (~96 mph) was reported on Orchid Island, just off the southeast coast of Taiwan.  Most of the flight cancellations were out of the southern city of Kaohsiung.

Podul has since emerged into the Taiwan Strait and is heading toward the Chinese coastal province of Fujian as of this writing as a Strong Tropical Storm, per the Japan Meteorological Agency. Fishing boats have been recalled and 15,000 persons evacuated across Fujian and Guangdong provinces in advance of the storm. Landfall in mainland China is forecast for Thursday morning local time.

Currently, no additional ALERT postings are planned for Podul. The Verisk ALERT team is continuing to monitor Podul as it approaches and eventually impacts mainland China, and if significant insured losses are expected from that landfall, we will provide an additional update on Thursday, Boston time.  In the meantime, please contact your Verisk representative with any questions regarding Typhoon Podul.