Typhoon Sinlaku (2008)

Typhoon Sinlaku, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Marce, was a typhoon which affected the Philippines, Taiwan, China and Japan. It was recognised as the 13th named storm and the ninth typhoon of the 2008 Pacific typhoon season by the Japan Meteorological Agency.

Typhoon Sinlaku (Marce)

Typhoon (JMA scale)
Category 4 typhoon (SSHWS)
Typhoon Sinlaku near peak strength on September 10
Formed	September 8, 2008
Dissipated	September 25, 2008
(Extratropical after September 21)
Highest winds	10-minute sustained: 185 km/h (115 mph) 1-minute sustained: 230 km/h (145 mph)
Lowest pressure	935 hPa (mbar); 27.61 inHg
Fatalities	12 direct, 2 indirect, 10 missing
Damage	$1.1 billion (2008 USD)
Areas affected	Philippines, Taiwan, People's Republic of China, Japan
Part of the 2008 Pacific typhoon season

The name Sinlaku was one of the ten original names submitted to the WMOs Typhoon Committee for use from January 1, 2000 by Micronesia. It was last used in the 2002 Pacific typhoon season to name a tropical storm and is the name of a goddess worshipped on the island of Kosrae in Micronesia.[1] Note that the name is apparently shortened (a seemingly routine practice of making names easier to read to Westerners) from the original "Sin Laku."[2]

Meteorological history

Map plotting the track and the intensity of the storm, according to the Saffir–Simpson scale

On September 7, 2008, a tropical disturbance formed to the northeast of Manila in the Philippines.[3] It was initially forecasted not to intensify into a tropical depression within 24 hours.[3] However it was upgraded to a tropical depression early the next morning with both PAGASA & the JMA designating it as a minor tropical depression with PAGASA naming the depression as Marce.[4][5] Meanwhile, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) issued a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert on the developing depression.[6] Later that day PAGASA upgraded the depression to a tropical storm whilst the JMA started to issue full advisories on the depression. That afternoon the JTWC designated the depression as Tropical Depression 15W.[7][8] During that evening the depression had intensified into a tropical storm and was named Sinlaku by the JMA. The JTWC also upgraded the depression to a tropical storm that evening.[9][10][11]

Typhoon Sinlaku approaching Taiwan on September 12

Early on September 9 the JMA upgraded Sinlaku to a Severe Tropical Storm. [12] Whilst during that afternoon the JTWC reported that Sinlaku had intensified into a Typhoon, the JMA then upgraded Sinlaku to a typhoon later that day.[13][14] The JTWC then reported Sinlaku had intensified into a category two typhoon. During the next day Sinlaku continued to intensify and reached its maximum 1 minute sustained winds of 125 knots which made it a Category 4 typhoon. It stayed at this intensity until the next day when it started to weaken as it went through an eye wall replacement cycle. Sinlaku then struggled to come out of its eye wall replacement cycle and as a result weakened into a Category 3 typhoon. The weakening trend continued until on September 13 Typhoon Sinlaku made landfall on Taiwan as a Category 2 typhoon. It moved towards the North West through Taiwan and then turned towards the north east and moved back into the South China Sea and started moving slowly towards Japan.

Early on September 14, the JMA downgraded Sinlaku to a severe tropical storm. Meanwhile, the JTWC were reporting that Sinlaku was a weak Category 1 typhoon. Later that day PAGASA issued their final advisory on Sinlaku as Sinlaku moved out of its area of responsibility. Late the next day the JTWC downgraded Sinlaku to a Tropical storm and then early on September 16 the JMA then downgraded Sinlaku into a tropical storm whilst Sinlaku moved closer to Japan. On September 17 Sinlaku strengthened into a severe tropical storm whilst the JTWC reported that Sinlaku had regained Typhoon strength, However, later that day the JTWC downgraded sinlaku to a Tropical storm again. However early the next day the JTWC reported that Sinlaku had once again regained Typhoon intensity however the JTWC downgraded Sinlaku to a tropical storm. Early on September 20, the JTWC issued its final advisory on Tropical Storm 15W as the storm became extratropical. Later that day the JMA, downgraded Sinlaku to a tropical storm.[15] Early on September 21 the JMA downgraded Sinlaku to an extra tropical low as it moved further away from Japan.[16]

Preparations

Philippines

PAGASA's Public Storm Warnings

Signals No.1 & 2	Signal No.1
Babuyan	Polillo Island
Batanes islands	CAR
Cagayan	Cagayan Valley
Isabela	Aurora

On September 8 PAGASA started to issue Public Storm warnings on Typhoon Marce (Sinlaku). Pagasa immediately hoisted Public Storm warning 1 over parts of Luzon including the Bicol, Isabela, Aurora & Cagayan Regions.[5] Later that day PAGASA hoisted further Signal one's for otber parts of Luzon and raised the Public storm warning from No.1 to No.2 for Cagayan & Isabela [17] Early the next day PAGASA downgraded Signal No.2 to No.1 for Isabela & hoisted Signal No.2 for Babuyan as well as downgrading some of the No.1 signals for other parts of Luzon [18] Later that day PAGASA downgraded the signal from No.2 to No.1 for Cagayan and further downgraded some of the other signals.[19] They then kept these signals in place until late on September 10 when they downgraded the signal for Babuyan Island.[20] Late the next day they downgraded all of the signals except for Batanes Island which remained under Signal No.1, until early the next day when PAGASA removed the signal.[21][22]

Taiwan

On September 10 the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) issued warnings for heavy rain in north Taiwan.[23] then on September 11 the CWB decided to issue sea warnings which meant that ships that were sailing within the Bashi Channel had to take extra precautions.[24] Land Warnings were then issued the next morning as Sinlaku moved closer to Taiwan.[25]

Japan

On September 9 the JMA started to issue Storm warnings for Naha on Okinawa and the seas south of Okinawa.[26] Later that day the JMA upgraded the storm warnings to Typhoon warnings whilst Sinlaku moved further north [27] During the next day the Joint Typhoon Warning Center raised the Tropical Cyclone Condition of Readiness (TCCOR) from TCCOR 4 to TCCOR 3 for Okinawa which meant that wind speeds greater than 50 knots were possible within 48 hours.[28][29] The JMA kept these issuing the typhoon warnings until September 14 when they downgraded it to a Storm warning [30] The JTWC kept the TCCOR in force until September 15 when they lowered TCCOR 3 to TCCOR 4 which meant that wind speeds greater than 50 knots were possible within 72 hours.[29][31] the JMA also upgraded their storm warnings to typhoon warnings however these typhoon warnings were downgraded to storm warnings later that day [32][33] Late on September 17 as Sinlaku moved closer to Japan the JMA added the Moji & Yokohama areas to the warnings [34] Early on September 19 the JMA added Otaru and Kushiro to the storm warnings [35] Later that day the JMA revised their storm warnings by removing the warnings for Kushiro, Moji, Naha & Otaru.[36]

Impact

Wettest tropical cyclones and their remnants in Taiwan
Highest-known totals

Precipitation			Storm	Location	Ref.
Rank	mm	in
1	3,060	120.47	Morakot 2009	Alishan, Chiayi	[37]
2	2,319	91.30	Nari 2001	Wulai, New Taipei	[38]
3	2,162	85.12	Flossie 1969	Beitou, Taipei	[37]
4	1,987	78.23	Herb 1996	Alishan, Chiayi	[39]
5	1,774	69.84	Saola 2012	Yilan City	[40]
6	1,700	66.93	Lynn 1987	Taipei	[41]
7	1,672	65.83	Clara 1967	Dongshan, Yilan	[42]
8	1,611	63.43	Sinlaku 2008	Heping, Taichung	[43]
9	1,561	61.46	Haitang 2005	Sandimen, Pingtung	[44]
10	1,546	60.87	Aere 2004	Miaoli County	[45]

Sinlaku brought torrential and almost endless rain over most of Luzon from September 8 to the 11th. It caused floods especially in the province of Zambales, forcing some people to evacuate. At least 12 people were killed and another 10 were reported as missing in Taiwan. Two others were found in a river as officials searched for the missing. They're considered to have been killed by an event related to Sinlaku.[46] A large section of a 2,000 ft bridge collapsed with five people on it after heavy rain caused supports to break. Three other bridges were washed out. Three people were killed after a large landslide over a tunnel caused it to collapse.[47] The storm caused at least $22.2 million in damages to agriculture.[46] About 120,000 residences lost power during the storm. During the storm, 1,000 people were evacuated from low-lying areas which were at risk from flooding.[48]

See also

• List of wettest tropical cyclones
• Typhoon Tembin (2012)
• Typhoon Phanfone (2014)

References

1. "The meaning of new tropical cyclone names in 2004". HKO. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
2. "Reversing Paradigm" (in Korean). Archived from the original on 6 October 2008. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
3. "ABPW10 PGTW 07-09-08". JTWC. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
4. "JMA Advisory 07-09-08 00Z". JMA. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
5. "PAGASA Advisory 07-09-08 03Z". PAGASA. Archived from the original on September 8, 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-10.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
6. "Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert". JTWC. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
7. "PAGASA Advisory 08-09-08 09Z". PAGASA. Archived from the original on September 8, 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-10.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
8. "JMA Advisory 08-09-08 06Z". JMA. Archived from the original on September 9, 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-10.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
9. "JTWC Advisory 08-09-08 15Z". JTWC. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
10. "JMA Advisory 08-09-08 18Z". JMA. Archived from the original on 2008-09-08. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
11. "JTWC Advisory 08-09-08 21Z". JTWC. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
12. "JMA Advisory 09-09-08 06Z". JMA. Archived from the original on 2008-09-09. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
13. "JMA Advisory 09-09-08 18z". JMA. Archived from the original on 2008-09-09. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
14. "JTWC Advisory 09-09-08 15Z". JTWC. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
15. "JMA Advisory 20-09-08 18z". JMA. Archived from the original on 2008-09-20. Retrieved 2008-09-21.
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17. "PAGASA Advisory 08-09-08 15Z". PAGASA. Archived from the original on September 8, 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-23.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
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21. "PAGASA Advisory 11-09-08 21Z". PAGASA. Archived from the original on September 11, 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-13.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
22. "PAGASA Advisory 12-09-08 09Z". PAGASA. Archived from the original on September 16, 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-13.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
23. "CWB issues warnings for Sinlaku". Taiwan News. 2008-09-11. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
24. "CWB watching typhoon after issuing sea warning". China Post. 2008-09-12. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
25. "Brace for the typhoon:CWB". China Post. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
26. "JMA WWJP81 Warning 09-09-08 03z". JMA. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
27. "JMA WWJP81 Warning 09-09-08 15z". JMA. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
28. "TCCOR 3". JTWC. Archived from the original on September 10, 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-10.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
29. "Kadena braces for Typhoon Sinlaku". Kadena Air Base. Archived from the original on 2011-05-20. Retrieved 2008-09-15.
30. "JMA WWJP81 Warning 14-09-08 03z". JMA. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
31. "Typhoon Sinlaku Update". Kadena Air Base. Archived from the original on 2011-05-20. Retrieved 2008-09-15.
32. "JMA WWJP81 Warning 15-09-08 03z". JMA. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
33. "JMA WWJP81 Warning 15-09-08 21z". JMA. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
34. "JMA WWJP81 Warning 17-09-08 21z". JMA. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
35. "JMA WWJP25 Warning 19-09-08 06z". JMA. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
36. "JMA WWJP25 Warning 19-09-08 18z". JMA. Retrieved 2008-09-20.
37. Central Weather Bureau (2010). "侵台颱風資料庫". Retrieved October 19, 2011.
38. Unattributed (September 9, 2009). "莫拉克颱風暴雨量及洪流量分析" (PDF). Water Resources Agency, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Republic of China. Retrieved July 17, 2011.
39. Unattributed (September 9, 2009). "莫拉克颱風暴雨量及洪流量分析" (PDF). Water Resources Agency, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Republic of China. Retrieved July 17, 2011.
40. Chen Zhi (August 2, 2012). "Typhoon Saola dumps heavy downpours around Taiwan". Xinhua General News. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
41. Joint Typhoon Warning Center; Naval Pacific Meteorology and Oceanography Center (1988). Annual Tropical Cyclone Report: 1987 (PDF) (Report). United States Navy, United States Air Force. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
42. Lianshou, Chen. Topic 2.1 Observing and forecasting rainfall. Fifth International Workshop on Tropical Cyclones. Retrieved August 4, 2012.
43. "Typhoon Sinlaku Central emergency operation center No.12". Central emergency operation center. September 16, 2008. Retrieved January 13, 2009.
44. Chiu Yu-Tzu (July 20, 2005). "Haitang fizzles out, leaves Taiwan wet". Taipei Times. Retrieved April 11, 2010.
45. Padgett, Gary. "Monthly Global Tropical Cyclone Summary: November 2004". Retrieved June 10, 2012.
46. Xinhua News Agency (September 17, 2008). "China: Typhoon death toll rises to 12 in Taiwan, more missing". ReliefWeb. Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved March 19, 2009.
47. "Powerful Typhoon Sinlaku leaves 11 dead in Taiwan". USA Today. Associated Press. September 16, 2008. Retrieved March 19, 2009.
48. Annie Huang (September 14, 2008). "Typhoon Sinlaku floods low-lying areas of Taiwan". Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved March 19, 2009.

External links

• JMA General Information of Typhoon Sinlaku (0813) from Digital Typhoon
• JMA Best Track Data of Typhoon Sinlaku (0813) (in Japanese)
• JMA Best Track Data (Graphics) of Typhoon Sinlaku (0813)
• JMA Best Track Data (Text)
• JTWC Best Track Data of Typhoon 15W (Sinlaku)
• 15W.SINLAKU from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory