Worst Hurricane Of The Year Just Hit The United States

The island of Titian completely swallowed up within the eye of
Typhoon Yutu last week. 

You might not have seen it on the news, but the worst hurricane of the year just hit the United States this week.  

Usually, there's wall-to-wall media coverage of such a thing, as we saw with Hurricanes Michael and Florence.

But this worst-case hurricane that I'm talking about was a typhoon that hit the northern Mariana Islands, particularly Saipan and Titian last week. These islands are American territory.

Peak winds of Typhoon Yutu were an astonishing 180 mph as the storm swept over Saipan. Compare that to what I though was the incredible 150 mph or so winds in Michael, and you really have something.

As you can imagine, the devastation is pretty complete. One death has been reported so far. It will take months, probably, to restore power.  There's quite a video at the bottom of this post.

Because the Mariana Islands are prone to typhoons, building codes there are very tough. Even so, houses were no match for such incredible winds. Most buildings there are damaged. FEMA is on its way with food and water, the Weather Channel reports.

There was a witness account in the Category 6 weather blog, illustrating what such strong winds can do, even making water infiltrate sturdy buildings:

"My fourth floor north-facing window and door flooded my place badly. Streaming in from the air conditioner, my door, perculating in from my aluminum windowsill. Even my empty hole in the wale from a removed power outlet! My air conditioner nearly blew inside my rood, shoved THAT violently by 120+ mph winds. From 3 to 6 a.m. were the worst. The interior walls...pulsed, is the word I'd use. I put my fingertips on the wall, and it was like the plaster walls were "breathing."

Images and video showed homes torn apart and cars blown around like toys. By the way, Typhoon Yutu is tied for the strongest tropical storm for 2018.

Wreckage after Typhoon Yutu in the Mariana Islands. 

Typhoon Yutu is still out there and still a beast. It is heading toward the island of Luzon in the Philippines, which is that nation's most populous island. The typhoon should largely miss the metropolis of Manila.

Yutu currently has top winds of 150 mph. Those winds might weaken some by the time it hits the Philippines, but wind, incredible rains and landslides are all coming to parts of Luzon.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, Hurricane Walaka wiped a small, remote Hawaiian island off the map, according to The Guardian. 

East Island was an 11-acre in the French Frigate Shoals, a big, huge protected marine environmental protection agency northwest of the main Hawaii Islands.

The island had probably been there for 1,000 or 2,000 years. Scientists had just begun studying the island as part of climate change research and now it's gone. Some would say because of climate change (rising sea levels and the risk of stronger hurricanes.)

The island had been an important habitat for Hawaiian monk seals and sea turtles, according to the Guardian, so there is a real environmental loss or at least risk here.

By the way, there is a late season semi-surprise out in the central Atlantic Ocean. Tropical Storm Oscar formed out there in recent days and is expected to turn into a  hurricane soon. It poses no real threat to land.

Here's that video of Typhoon Yutu