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Name – Typhoon Sinlaku |
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Typhoon Sinlaku at peak strength on 11th September 2008. Image courtesy of NRL Monetery |
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| The video below is a compilation of my footage shot from the core of typhoon Sinlaku as it made landfall. |
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The full fury of typhoon Sinlaku shot by typhoonfury.com |
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August 2008 was a quiet month in the Pacific, a welcome break for China, Taiwan and the Philippines all of whom had been hit hard in June and July by deadly typhoons. I had missed out on all the early season action and was getting anxious that time was running out to intercept a strong landfalling typhoon. September 2008 blew that anxiety away in the most unimaginable circumstances. Throughout August I was busy working with Pioneer Productions helping them put together a shoot in Taiwan for their new series Raging Planet II to be broadcast on the Discovery Channel. The plan was to film Geoff Mackley and I as we retold the story of intercepting super typhoon Sepat in August 2007. Filming was due to start on 12th September at the peak of typhoon season, a fact I had made clear on several occasions. Even so, the chances a typhoon would hit Taiwan on the exact dates we were there was minimal. On the 8th September a cluster of clouds off the east coast of Luzon caught my attention. Conditions were favourable for development however the close proximity to land gave me the impression that if this did form it would not be a significant storm. The blob was soon upgraded to a tropical depression and then a tropical storm with the assigned name Sinlaku. |
The initial forecast track took Sinlaku well to the east of Taiwan as a very slow moving storm just as I was due to travel there for filming. Okinawa was in the firing line and I was very concerned I would be stuck in Taiwan unable to intercept should Sinlaku strike land. Over the next 48 hours I watched in shock as every numerical weather prediction model shifted the forecast track west towards Taiwan. By Thursday 11th September northeast Taiwan was forecast to be erased by the eyewall of a very strong typhoon - I was immediately booked on the first flight to Taipei leaving at dawn the next day. Company regulations meant the Discovery film crew were unable to shoot a live storm since it was deemed too dangerous. They stationed themselves in Hong Kong whilst I met up with Geoff Mackley to cover the full fury of Sinlaku. On Saturday 13th September we drove to the northeast coast via the scenic coastal road. Sinlaku had stalled offshore whilst the outer bands swept over Taiwan and huge surf pounded the shore. |
Warning from JMA on 9th September 12z forecasting a track well to the east of Taiwan |
Huge waves pound the northeast coast of Taiwan |
The slow forward speed of the storm coupled with the torrential rains surrounding the eye were the perfect ingredientes for an extreme flood event. Geoff and I based ourselves in the town of Toucheng, just a few kilometres north of Ilan. We had scoped out a port complex which offered protection from all directions and was made of reinforced concrete. At 2pm typhoon Sinlaku was 10 hours away from making landfall and we knew on our return to the port after dark conditions would be furious. We found a hotel nearby, checked in and stocked up on supplies ready for the long and dangerous night ahead of us. |
Radar from CWB shows the eye of typhoon Sinlaku approaching Taiwan |
The height of typhoon Sinlaku in Toucheng harbour at about 0100 local time on 14th September 2008 |
At 10pm strong winds started to tear across the east coast of Taiwan buffeting our hotel. This was our sign we had to make a move fast towards the port before conditions became so extreme travel by car would be impossible. We drove north with blinding rain and strong winds buffeting the car. Power flashes illuminated the wild night and debris started to blow across the road. We arrived at the port just as the full force of the eyewall was crashing upon us. As I was exiting the car a large plank of wood smacked into the back of it. The only completely covered shelter was the port's toilets on the opposite side of the open walled building. Getting there involved a 50 metre dash being blasted by winds over 100mph and any airborne debris. The port complex offered us perfect shelter as the full force of Sinlaku's eyewall raged over us for more than three hours. I ventured to an area exposed moderately to the winds and managed to record a handheld gust of 77mph with my anemometer and even that almost knocked me off my feet. The superb infrastructure of Taiwan allowed us to stay logged online through mobile internet and film the chaos since the power did not cut out. Being in the eyewall of a powerful tropical cyclone is exhausting and by 0230 local time I was happy to see that the winds were starting to abate slightly. Happy with what we had shot, Geoff and I decided it was time to head back to the hotel and get some much needed rest. |
Flooding in the devasted town of Lushan |
Collapsed hotel in Lushan |
The next morning we got up early and headed back to Taipei to rendezvous with the Pioneer Productions / Discovery Channel crew for the upcoming shoot. Damage along the coast was minimal however reports were starting to come in of the immense rainfall totals recorded in the mountains, over 1600mm in places. This meant catastrophic flash flooding was taking place somewhere in the interior compounded by the fact a now weakened tropical storm Sinlaku was still hovering over the north of the island. |
Pioneer Productions / Discovery Channel cameraman in Lushan |
We successfully met up with the film crew and immediately sat down for a crisis meeting to discuss our filming plans which had Sinlaku had so spectacularly disrupted. Local headline news featured the town of Lushan, which had almost been wiped off the map by a giant flash flood and landslide. This was where we needed to get too. It took us 4 days before we got into Lushan, negotiating blocked roads and reluctant drivers. The town was devastated and despite the time it had taken us to get there water was still raging through buildings as if the typhoon had hit the night before. Some buildings were buried up to their second floor and one hotel had completely collapsed onto its side resulting in the death of one person. |
We spent the day documenting the destruction before heading back to Hualien to wrap the shoot. Sinlaku was one of the wettest typhoons to ever strike Taiwan which resulted in catastrophic flooding and the unfortunate deaths of over 12 people. I was exhausted having first covered a typhoon then gone on to coordinated a major shoot. I needed a break but little did I know another category 4 monster typhoon would be bearing down on me in a matter of days. |
The town of Lushan before Sinlaku struck. Image courtesy of tim_in_ga from S2K forum |
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