TIGER TALK: 2008 Typhoon Season

What a year it has been for us in Honkers -- four Typhoons (that's a Hurricane for you folks in the Atlantic, and a Tropical Cyclone for those in the southern hemisphere). We started early in the season with Typhoon Neoguri (Korean for a Raccoon Dog) in April which peaked as a Category 2 cyclone before shutting down HK as it rumbled into the south China coast. In June we had Typhoon Fengshen (Chinese for The God of Wind) which peaked at Category 3 and again went over our part of the world. August saw Typhoon Nuri (Malaysian for a Blue Crowned Parakeet) which was also a Category 3 but had downgraded when it made a direct hit on HK where a rare Typhoon Signal 9 was raised. And then in September, which is the height of the season, Typhoon Hagupit (Philippino for Lash or Flog) raised the stakes with a Category 4 Super Typhoon which roared nearby us and into the nearby China coast -- take a look at it in this graphic satellite picture.

So, this raises a few questions. Firstly, why are we telling you about all this? -- it's old news after all. Well, we have been sitting here in Hong Kong this weekend awaiting Typhoon Higos and hunkering down for a long, wet and windy few days. Happy to say that old Higos couldn't get his mojo going and it fizzed into a tropical depression as it crossed Hainan and headed north toward us. As I sit writing this we have PLENTY of rain, but none of the wind we were expecting.

Secondly, as we have mentioned our Typhoons (and those that have struck Taiwan and elsewhere) to others this season the question has regularly been raised that "if these are as strong as Hurricanes then why don't they cause the destruction we see in the US?". Well the simple answer is that everything here is built for the Typhoons that are regularly expected each year. The longer answer is that after a few thousand years of being pounded along the west Pacific coast, the folks here got smart enough to build on higher ground to avoid the storm surges, and to build strong buildings to withstand the wind (and thank goodness for us that they did). It's a very different experience to sit one out than it is to run from Hurricane Rita as we did in 2005.

Now the Typhoon season doesn't end until November and so you could yet read an update on this blog, but we are hoping the cooler weather will scare them off and we can start planning our weeks more predictably.

In closing, our thanks to Nana Marg who was in charge during Typhoon Nuri (while Mum and Dad were at the Beijing Olympics) and managed through a rare Typhoon Signal 9 -- that's something they don't teach you in Streatham !