Fueled By Climate Change — Typhoon Noru Became A Super Typhoon

Nearly a dozen dead, and hundreds of thousands displaced in recent tropical storm.

Typhoon Noru made landfall in the northern region of the Philippines and then made its way to Vietnam, last week — causing extreme flooding and killing at least 12, according to local reporting.

Local Filipinos weren’t given much time to prepare. The storm quickly developed into a super typhoon — the equivalent of a category 5 hurricane — with sustaining winds of up to 143 miles per hour, once it hit land.

This is similar to what residents in Florida just experienced with Hurricane Ian. Rapidly intensifying typhoons and hurricanes are becoming more common because of climate change, according to meteorologists. Warmer waters and excess moisture in the air give even the smallest of storms the boost they need to become devastating.

Local resources quickly become finite in these instances of extreme weather. Nearly tens of thousands of people were stranded in one of the Philippine’s many temporary evacuation centers, unable to safely re-enter their homes and communities, thanks to Noru.

Local economies have also taken a hit. Farm losses, for example, have already reached an estimated 51 million US dollars (3 billion in the local currency).

And, the typhoon couldn’t have come at a more undesirable time, as the country is already working to address its food shortages and the highest inflation rate it’s seen since 2018.

In neighboring Vietnam, hundreds of thousands of people faced evacuation — the storm hit their shores on Wednesday morning, leaving mass destruction in its wake.

There have been no reported casualties yet, despite meteorologists’ predictions that the storm would be among the strongest the country had seen. By the time the storm made landfall, however, it quickly downgraded from the equivalent of a category 5 to a category 2 storm.

Thousands have been evacuated, as local authorities work to navigate the infrastructural havoc caused by the torrential rain, following an already-wet monsoon season.