CASIGURAN, Philippines, Oct. 17, 2015 (Gephardt Daily) — The powerful center of Super Typhoon Koppu slammed into the Philippines Sunday, nearly two days after it’s outer bands first started beating up on the country’s coastline.
Koppu, known as Lando in the Philippines, was upgraded to super typhoon status, with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph, about two hours before the center of the storm came ashore, according to the Weather Channel.
The storm is moving at just under 2 miles per hour and is expected to slowly rake its way across the country’s northern island, Luzon, where nearly half the Philippines population lives. Forecasters expect the storm will continue on a path eastward across nearly the entire island before it turns north.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration, or PAGASA, warned residents closest to Koppu’s center to expect significant damage to structures and potential devastation to trees, plants and crops.
Forecasters said the storm had a chance to intensify significantly before hitting land because of its slow movement, which bodes even worse for residents of the islands. They’ve already been through days of rain, which is likely to last at least two or three more.
Extreme winds, a large storm surge, and heavy rains are all major threats from Koppu, but it is the storm’s rains that will cause most of the storm’s destruction. Recent satellite estimates showed Koppu’s maximum rainfall rate was likely 20 inches of rain per 24 hours.
