Storms and Floods

Tropical Storms

In the Western Pacific:

Typhoon Nari is located approximately 192 nm east of Da Nang, Vietnam.

Typhoon Wipha is located approximately 395 nm southwest of Iwo To, Japan.

Category 2 Typhoon Nari is headed for landfall in Vietnam, after battering the Philippines on Friday. Nari killed thirteen people and left 2.1 million people without power on the main Philippine island of Luzon, after hitting on Friday night near midnight local time as a Category 3 typhoon with 115 mph winds. The core of the storm passed about 80 miles north of the capital of Manila, sparing the capital major flooding, but the storm dumped torrential rains in excess of ten inches to the northeast of Manilla. Nari is expected to be at Category 1 strength when it makes landfall in Vietnam near 20 - 23 UTC on Monday.

Huge and powerful Category 4 Typhoon Wipha continues intensifying as it heads northwest towards Japan. The storm is expected to peak at 145 mph winds on Monday near 12 UTC. By Tuesday, Wipha will recurve to the northeast and begin weakening, passing just offshore from Tokyo, Japan, sometime between 00 - 06 UTC on Wednesday. Wipha will be rapidly weakening as it makes its closest approach to Tokyo, due to high wind shear and cooler waters, and the coast of Japan should experience winds below hurricane force if the core of Wipha passes offshore as expected. High winds and heavy rains from Wipha may be a concern for the Fukushima nuclear site, where rainfall from Typhoon Man-Yi on September 16 complicated clean-up efforts of the reactors damaged by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

In the Eastern Pacific:

Tropical storm Octave is located about 315 mi (505 km) S of the southern tip of Baja California. Continuing to strengthen.

Moisture associated with Tropical Storm Octave in the Eastern Pacific bringing rain to Texas. In the Eastern Pacific, Tropical Storm Octave is headed NNW towards Mexico's Baja Peninsula, but is expected to dissipate before making it there. Octave is embedded in a large plume of tropical moisture that is riding up to the northeast over Mexico and Texas. Flood Watches are posted over large regions of Texas, where widespread rains of 2 - 4", with some 6 - 8" amounts, are expected.

In the Indian Ocean:

Tropical Cyclone Phailin weakened to a tropical storm over northern India after making landfall on the northeast coast of India near the town of Gopalpur (population 7,000) at 15:45 UTC (11:45 am EDT) on Saturday. The cyclone brought a storm surge in excess of 3 meters (10 feet) to portions of the coast, and at least fourteen people were killed by the storm. Phailin was weakening substantially at landfall, due to interaction with land, and was rated a Category 4 storm with 140 mph winds by the Joint Typhoon Warning Centre four hours before landfall.

Cyclone Phailin Ruins 15% of Odisha Rice Growing Area. India carried out the largest evacuation in the nation's history, shifting one million people from the path of the cyclone that slammed into its eastern coast. The mass evacuations helped to limit fatalities to 14.