Super Typhoon Bopha/Pablo Bears Down on Philippines (Now Cat 5)

Weather channel ^ | 12/02/12 | N/a

[SueRae]

Link only...can't get my gosh darned iPad to cooperate. The good news is that much of Palau was spared! Last minute turn indeed, thank you, God.

[dirtboy]

Once again, get over yourself. You were all over the Sandy threads saying it wasn't going to be a big deal.

It was. And don't be a liar and pretend you were not.

Please, just stay off these threads if you cannot contain your inner jerk.

[GeronL]

You could say:

“I don’t think humor is appropriate right now”

“Too soon, dude”

“I repsectfully disagree with your opinion”

“I do not agree with you”

“I think that position is stupid”

.............

Personal attacks are the first, second and last resort of small minded people.

[GeronL]

I didn’t say it wasn’t going to be a big deal. Every hurricane is, and tropical storm Sandy was too. I was poking fun at the media reports trying t make it the biggest deal EVAH.

It wasn’t the worst storm in the recorded history of man.

Not by a long shot.

It wasn’t even the worst natural disaster in American in the last few years.

Nobody foresaw how bad the response would be botched by leftist local, state and federal authorities. That was the biggest tragedy of all of it.

[dirtboy]

I don't respect your opinion. You, not once that I saw, admitted you were wrong in downplaying Sandy and joking about it. You instead tried to claim Sandy wasn't as big a deal as the Joplin tornado - whereas Sandy did end up killing more people and causing vastly more damage. In your banal efforts to ride your stupid opinion to the bitter end, you tried a different metric for Sandy, and were too small of a person to admit you were wrong there as well.

So go suck eggs. And quit playing the victim. What you consider a personal attack is an accurate description of your jerk-ass posts on hurricane threads.

[dirtboy]

I didn’t say it wasn’t going to be a big deal. Every hurricane is, and tropical storm Sandy was too. I was poking fun at the media reports trying t make it the biggest deal EVAH.

It was only the second-most damaging storm on record. I saw your posts. They were pathetic, stupid, and out of place.

Please, just stay off these threads if you cannot add anything constructive to them. Hint: your lame-assed sense of humor does not qualify.

[max americana]

Cebu City, not the beach ;) But she knows a lot of expats who live by the beach area.

[dirtboy]

It wasn’t even the worst natural disaster in American in the last few years.

Other than Katrina, it was.

[libbylu]

MANILA, Philippines - The island nation of Palau “narrowly escaped” the wrath of typhoon Pablo (Bopha), reports said Monday, December 3, after it changed course at the last minute.

Earlier forecasts saw the typhoon making landfall on the island, but it changed its path a bit as it neared the area.

“It was headed right towards Palau and at the last minute it turned to the west and fortunately went south of [the islands],” Derek Williams of the US National Weather Service in Guam said, speaking in an interview with Radio Australia.

Wind gusts of up to 70 mi/h (112 km/h) were recorded in the capital city of Koror, he said.

Williams said the speed of the typhoon “prevented a lot of flooding” on the island, but it still did considerable damage to the area.

Trees were down, and power outages are reported to be widespread on the island. The extent of the damage on the island will still be known in the next few hours.

He added that the typhoon is still considered a “pretty powerful typhoon” once it hits Mindanao in 24 hours.

Palau is usually not along the path of typhoons, Radio Australia noted.

[Doofer]

Palau is usually not along the path of typhoons, Radio Australia noted.

Neither is the southern Philippines.

[LadyDoc]

yup. it's supposed to hit south of here ( I live north of Manila). pdf local report.

[dirtboy]

Hard to tell any more if this is a supertyphoon or an oversized tornado like Andrew, only stronger:

[dirtboy]

Cat 5:

[palmer]

So those Palauans who said the storm would turn away were right.

Yes, but not about the direction. They said it would turn north. Instead it wobbled south and missed most of the islands except the southern ones. The still got a good surge since the surge is north of the storm.

[palmer]

There will be a 50 mile wide swath with nothing left standing and major damage elsewhere (even south of the storm). The storm surge will vary a bit with geography but 20 feet is likely. The officials were warning about 13 foot waves, but the track shows 48 foot waves: http://www.typhoon2000.ph/activetrack.gif This storm looks like Andrew type damage except instead of cinder block houses with some (insubstantial) shelter, there are huts made of sticks and thin sheet metal.

[dirtboy]

Yep, you are basically talking about a 50 mile wide EF2-EF3 tornado with gusts to EF4. And a tornado that lasts hours, not minutes, in an area not used to typhoons and with marginal construction. Very, very bad news. Hopefully most people can evacuate to the south of Mindanao - fortunately the wind field is not massive.

[palmer]

From the satellite view there are a couple of sturdier buildings and evenly spaced palm trees.

[dirtboy]

It’s taking more of a westward course than forecast. Big trouble. Mindanao is more densely populated along that track, and the storm will have a much longer track over land that way.

[dirtboy]

Hell on Earth:

[palmer]

Agree with that. Looks like places like Tagum City will get hit. From google satellite it looks like mostly buildings with rusty metal roofs. I’ve seen close-up pictures, generally just light framing with a roof resting on it. Those roofs will fly.

[palmer]

Probably 200 mph winds on the mountains soon (up to 7k feet).