Typhoon Morakot

Typhoon Morakot (Kiko)

Typhoon (JMA scale)
Category 1 (Saffir–Simpson scale)
Typhoon Morakot approaching Taiwan on August 7
Formed	August 2, 2009
Dissipated	August 13, 2009
(Extratropical after August 11, 2009)
Highest winds	10-minute sustained: 140 km/h (85 mph) 1-minute sustained: 150 km/h (90 mph)
Lowest pressure	945 hPa (mbar); 27.91 inHg
Fatalities	789 total
Damage	$6.2 billion (2009 USD)
Areas affected	Philippines, Japan, Taiwan, China, South Korea, North Korea
Part of the 2009 Pacific typhoon season

Typhoon Morakot, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Kiko, was the deadliest typhoon to impact Taiwan in recorded history.

Typhoon Morakot wrought catastrophic damage in Taiwan, leaving 677 people dead and 22 missing, 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 mudflows and severe flooding throughout southern Taiwan. One landslide (and subsequent flood) destroyed the entire town of Xiaolin killing over 400 people. 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.

During August 2, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) reported that a tropical depression, had developed about 1,455 km (905 mi) to the northeast of Manilla in the Philippines. The JMA subsequently reported during the next day that the system had intensified into a tropical storm and named it Morakot.