ANALYSIS OF THE 2013 TYPHOON YOLANDA (HAIYAN) AND SUBSEQUENT STORM SURGE

Abstract

 Typhoon Yolanda made landfall in Leyte Island at near peak strength, with maximum sustained wind speeds of 160 knots, the largest in the recorded history of the Western North Pacific. Yolanda approached very quickly with a forward speed of 41km/hr towards Leyte, which was also the largest among typhoons with similar intensities. As a result of these extreme gusts and the exceptionally low central pressure of the typhoon, Yolanda caused the largest storm surge in the recorded history of Philippines. The spatial distribution of storm surges occurred in Leyte Gulf shows reasonable agreement between the field survey conducted by the authors and the storm surge simulation with an empirical typhoon model.