July 28, 2014 - Typhoon Rammasun (09W) over the Philippines

Typhoon Rammasun (09W) over the Philippines

Eight months after Super Typhoon Haiyan made landfall, another powerful storm battered the Philippines. On July 15, 2014, Rammasun (known locally as Glenda) swept over southern Luzon as a category 3 storm, bringing torrential rain and sustained winds of 200 kilometers (125 miles) per hour.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this image of Rammasun at 1:00 p.m. local time (0500 UTC) on July 15, just before it made landfall. By the time the storm had passed over the Philippines on July 16, it had dropped more than 200 millimeters (8 inches) of rain on parts of Luzon, Samar, and Panay.

Rammasun was mild in comparison to Haiyan, a record-breaking typhoon that left more than 7,300 people dead or missing. So far, officials have blamed 94 deaths on Rammasun in the Philippines, mostly due to falling trees and power lines. But it could have been much worse, as the storm’s eyewall collapsed as it neared the city, dropping winds to only 20 mph (32 km/h) at the Manila airport.

After raking the Philippines, Super Typhoon Rammasun made two landfalls in China and passed over Vietnam before dissipating. At the time of this writing, authorities have confirmed 46 deaths in China due to the storm and at least 11 in Vietnam. Damage to infrastructure, homes, and agriculture is estimated in the billions of dollars across the swath of the storm.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 7/15/2014
Resolutions: 1km ( B), 500m ( B), 250m ( B)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC