Typhoon Mangkhut, which slammed Hong Kong in 2018, joins Rumbia in ‘retirement’ from international storm list as more fruit-based names added
- Replacement names Pulasan and Krathon, both taken from popular Southeast Asian fruits, were offered up by Malaysia and Thailand, respectively
- Storm names are often ‘retired’, both to acknowledge significant devastation they have caused and to avoid confusion between weather events
Two typhoons that ravaged the region in 2018 – Mangkhut and Rumbia – have seen their names forever struck from the international roster of tropical storm designations, though the next dark clouds on the horizon could just as likely bear the name of a popular fruit.
Pulasan and Krathon, named after delicacies from Malaysia and Thailand, respectively, have made the latest roster of potential appellations after being endorsed at the 52nd session of the World Meteorological Organisation’s Typhoon Committee.
Countries hit hard by typhoons can lobby to “retire” the names of storms, both as a mark of respect to those who lost their lives, and to minimise confusion between different weather events.
“According to convention, the Typhoon Committee will consider retiring the name of a tropical cyclone that has caused serious casualties and economic losses,” Hong Kong’s Observatory said in a statement.
But countries also offer up names for tropical storms to be, as was the case with Pulasan, a close – if sweeter – relative of rambutan, and Krathon, a sweet, fleshy fruit also known as santol.
The 14-member committee, which includes Hong Kong, has been tasked with naming tropical cyclones in the western North Pacific and the South China Sea since 2000.
“The common practice is that the country which contributed the typhoon name that is being retired will present a replacement name,” Hong Kong Observatory scientific officer Choy Chun-wing said.
This year’s Typhoon Committee session was originally to have been held in Hong Kong in February, but “because of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was delayed twice and eventually held online in June instead,” Choy added. The committee is also operated under the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
Since 2002, a total of 48 typhoon names – Rumbia and Mangkhut included – have been removed by the committee.
Mangkhut, the Thai name for mangosteen, joined the list in 2008, when it replaced another fruit-based name: Durian. The latter killed at least 734 people and left 764 missing in the Philippines in 2006.
When Typhoon Mangkhut arrived 10 years later, in September 2018, it was the most intense storm to hit Hong Kong on record, triggering the Observatory’s highest-level warning, a typhoon warning signal No 10.
The signal was in place for 10 hours – the second-longest duration since World War II.
Maximum gusts of 256km/h were recorded at the Tate’s Cairn weather station on the morning of September 16 as Mangkhut made landfall. Widespread flooding hit the city and thousands of trees were blown over or uprooted. Commuter mayhem followed the next day as many public transport services ground to a halt.
The effect was deadlier elsewhere, as more than 130 people were killed when the typhoon swept first across the Philippines, then hit such mainland Chinese provinces as Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Guizhou and Yunnan, where it killed at least six people and affected 3.3 million others.
Hong Kong and Macau reported at least 458 and 40 injuries respectively, with no fatalities.
In August 2018, Tropical Storm Rumbia brought torrential rains to eastern and central China. At least 53 people were killed, and more than 10 million people were affected. Rumbia is the name of a type of palm tree that yields sago and was contributed by Malaysia.
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Observatory on Monday said it would consider issuing a No 1 standby signal on Tuesday morning, as an area of low pressure near Luzon in the Philippines had come within 800km of the city on Monday afternoon.
It was expected to move across the northern part of the South China Sea towards the vicinity of western Guangdong to Hainan Island in the next couple of days.
“It may further develop into a tropical cyclone, but its intensity remains uncertain,” the Observatory said in a bulletin on Monday afternoon.
“Under the influence of its associated unsettled weather, there will be heavy squally showers and thunderstorms over the coast of Guangdong midweek this week. It will also be windy with swells.”
