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Incredible Destruction and at Least 21 Deaths in Fiji From Tropical Cyclone Winston
At least 21 deaths had been reported by late Monday Fiji time as the island nation slogged through the daunting early stages of recovery from ferocious Cyclone Winston, the strongest tropical cyclone on record in the Southern Hemisphere. Officials expect the death toll to rise when they're finally able to reach outlying islands that were hit hardest by the powerful storm, said the BBC, and it would not be surprising if Winston ends up being the deadliest and costliest natural disaster in Fiji's history. Fiji's deadliest tropical cyclone in recorded history was Category 3 Cyclone Eric of 1985, which made a direct hit on the capital of Suva, killing 25.
Since satellite records began in 1970 (with high-quality satellite images only available since 1990), just eleven Cat 5s (including Winston) have been observed anywhere in the South Pacific east of Australia. Winston is the strongest of these. As it passed over Fiji’s Koro Island on Saturday, Winston’s winds were estimated by satellite at 185 mph. This puts Winston in a three-way tie--with 1959’s Typhoon Joan in Taiwan and the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane in the Florida Keys--for the second strongest winds at landfall among all tropical cyclones with reliable data (see Figure 4 below). Only 2013's catastrophic Super Typhoon Haiyan brought stronger winds ashore: 190 mph in Samar, Philippines. Wind speeds of 185 mph are characteristic of an EF4 tornado, and damage photos from the New Zealand Air Force showed many areas of incredible damage characteristic of at least EF3 tornado speeds (136 - 165 mph) on Koro Island (Figure 1.)
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/incredible-destruction-and-at-least-21-deaths-in-fiji-from-tropical-cy
Figure 1. Wind damage in the village of Vatulele, on the northeast tip of Koro Island, Fiji. Tropical Cyclone Winston was at peak strength with 185-mph winds (Category 5 strength) when the eye passed directly over this village on February 20, 2016. Without knowing the quality of the construction, a good guess is that damage in this photo is from EF3 tornado wind speeds (136 - 165 mph), implying that this portion of Koro did not receive the full force of Winston's winds. This may be because high terrain behind this village blocked the full force of the wind--similar to what happened in Tacloban, Philippines, during the landfall of Super Typhoon Haiyan when it was at Category 5 strength. Image credit: Fijian government Facebook page.
Since satellite records began in 1970 (with high-quality satellite images only available since 1990), just eleven Cat 5s (including Winston) have been observed anywhere in the South Pacific east of Australia. Winston is the strongest of these. As it passed over Fiji’s Koro Island on Saturday, Winston’s winds were estimated by satellite at 185 mph. This puts Winston in a three-way tie--with 1959’s Typhoon Joan in Taiwan and the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane in the Florida Keys--for the second strongest winds at landfall among all tropical cyclones with reliable data (see Figure 4 below). Only 2013's catastrophic Super Typhoon Haiyan brought stronger winds ashore: 190 mph in Samar, Philippines. Wind speeds of 185 mph are characteristic of an EF4 tornado, and damage photos from the New Zealand Air Force showed many areas of incredible damage characteristic of at least EF3 tornado speeds (136 - 165 mph) on Koro Island (Figure 1.)
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/incredible-destruction-and-at-least-21-deaths-in-fiji-from-tropical-cy
Figure 1. Wind damage in the village of Vatulele, on the northeast tip of Koro Island, Fiji. Tropical Cyclone Winston was at peak strength with 185-mph winds (Category 5 strength) when the eye passed directly over this village on February 20, 2016. Without knowing the quality of the construction, a good guess is that damage in this photo is from EF3 tornado wind speeds (136 - 165 mph), implying that this portion of Koro did not receive the full force of Winston's winds. This may be because high terrain behind this village blocked the full force of the wind--similar to what happened in Tacloban, Philippines, during the landfall of Super Typhoon Haiyan when it was at Category 5 strength. Image credit: Fijian government Facebook page.
