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Typhoon Morakot, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Kiko, was the deadliest typhoon to impact Taiwan in recorded history. It formed early on August 2, 2009 as an unnamed tropical depression. During that day the depression gradually developed before being upgraded to a tropical storm and assigned the name Morakot, by the Japan Meteorological Agency late on August 3. The large system gradually intensified as it tracked westward towards Taiwan. By August 5, the JMA and JTWC upgraded Morakot to a typhoon. Due to the size of the typhoon, the barometric pressure steadily decreased; however, maximum winds only increased slightly. Early on August 7, the storm attained its peak intensity with winds of 140 km/h (85 mph 10-minute sustained) according to the JMA. The JTWC reported the storm to be slightly stronger, with winds peaking at 150 km/h (90 mph 1-minute sustained), the equivalent of a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale. Morakot weakened slightly before making landfall in central Taiwan later that day. Roughly 24 hours later, the storm emerged back over water into the Taiwan Strait and weakened to a severe tropical storm before making landfall in Mainland China on August 9. The storm gradually weakened as it continued to slowly track inland. The remnants of the typhoon eventually dissipated on August 11. Typhoon Morakot wrought catastrophic damage in Taiwan, leaving 461 people dead and 192 others missing, most of whom are feared dead and roughly NT$110 billion ($3.3 billion USD) in damages. The storm produced copious amounts of rainfall, peaking at 2,777 mm (109.3 in), far surpassing the previous record of 1,736 mm (68.35 in) set by Typhoon Herb in 1996. The extreme amount of rain triggered enormous mudslides and severe flooding throughout southern Taiwan. One mudslide buried the entire town of Xiaolin killing an estimated 500 people in the village alone. The slow moving storm also caused widespread damage in China, leaving eight people dead and causing $1.4 billion (USD) in damages. Nearly 2,000 homes were destroyed in the country and 136,000 more were reported to have sustained damage. In the wake of the storm, Taiwan's government faced extreme criticism for the slow response to the disaster and having only initially deployed roughly 2,100 soldiers to the affected regions. Later the number of soldiers working to recover trapped residents increased to 46,000. Rescue crews were able to retrieve thousands of trapped residents from buried villages and isolated towns across the island. Days later, Taiwan's president apologized for the government's slow response publicly. On August 19, the Taiwan government announced that they would start a NT$100 billion ($3 billion USD) reconstruction plan that would take place over a three-year span in the devastated regions of southern Taiwan. Days after the storm, international aid began to be sent to the island. The storm also caused severe flooding in the northern Philippines that killed 26 people due to the enhancement of the southwest monsoon. ==Meteorological history== During August 2, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) reported that a tropical depression, had developed about to the northeast of Manilla in the Philippines.〔http://www.jma.go.jp/jma/jma-eng/jma-center/rsmc-hp-pub-eg/Besttracks/bst0009.txt〕 The JMA subsequently reported during the next day that the system had intensified into a tropical storm and named it Morakot. Early on August 2, 2009, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) reported that a tropical depression had formed within a monsoon trough located about 1000 km (620 mi), However the depression remained weak, and was downgraded to an area of low pressure before regenerating later that day. Both the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) and the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) then started to monitor the depression early the next day whilst it was located about 700 km (430 mi) to the southeast of Okinawa, Japan with PAGASA assigning the name Kiko to the depression. The JTWC were reporting at this time that it was an area of convection with deep convection flaring on the western side of a partially exposed low level circulation center at this time.〔 Later on August 3, the JMA reported that the depression had intensified into a Tropical Storm and named it as Morakot. The JTWC further designated it as Tropical Depression 09W as deep convection had increased over the low level circulation center and reported that it was moving around a low level ridge of pressure which was located to the east of the low level circulation center. On the morning of August 4, the JTWC reported that the Morakot had steadily intensified into a Tropical storm as wind-speeds were estimated to be near 65 km/h (40 mph) with deep convective banding building toward the low level circulation center under the influence of a subtropical ridge located to the east of the system. Later that day the JMA reported that Morakot had intensified into a Severe Tropical Storm before it was upgraded to a typhoon by the JMA and the JTWC early the next day. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Typhoon Morakot」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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