Two million evacuated in China as Typhoon Lekima makes landfall in the Western Pacific
Summary of Lekima
Originating as a tropical depression in the Philippine Sea, Lekima intensified to peak as a Category 4-equivalent super typhoon with wind speeds of 150 mph (~240 kph) (Weather Underground, 2019). While the typhoon weakened to a Category 2-equivalent be...
The average tropical cyclone season
Lekima is the ninth storm of this year’s North-West Pacific tropical cyclone season. This region typically sees most storms develop during June to November. The area is the most active weather basin in the world, accounting for one-third of the world’s tropical cyclone activity (Insurance Asia News, 2019). From 1988 to 2018, there were on average 31.77 tropical cyclones and 16 typhoons or major typhoons per year (Met Office, 2019). A ranking of the top 10 costliest storms in Asia can be seen in the table below, which highlights the significant damage these storms can cause.Table 1: The top 10 insured losses from tropical storms in Asia, 1980 - 2014. (Data Source: Munich RE, 2015.)Figure 2: Number of tropical cyclones in the North-West Pacific Basin since 1988. (Data Source: Met Office, 2019.)
Looking to the future - climate change and the growth of China’s insurance market
Tropical cyclones are expected to increase in intensity due to climate change (Seneviratne et al., 2012). With more extreme precipitation and maximum wind speeds expected from some events, losses could increase. However, it should be noted that as th...
References
AccuWeather. 2019. Lekima kills dozens and displaces millions in eastern China. [online] Available at: https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/44-dead-in-eastern-china-after-lekima-makes-landfall-as-a-powerful-typhoon/70009038 [Accessed 19 August 20...
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