Monstrous Category 5 cyclone makes direct hit on tiny Vanuatu

Satellite image as Cyclone Pam hit Port Vila, Vanuatu on March 13, 2015.
Satellite image as Cyclone Pam hit Port Vila, Vanuatu on March 13, 2015.
Image: NOAA
By Andrew Freedman

UPDATED>2:20 p.m. ET: It is still dark in Port Vila, with the full extent of the damage yet to be seen. However, early reports suggest there has been extensive damage from the storm's powerful winds and high waves. The storm is moving on to pummel other, less populated parts of Vanuatu, such as Erromango and Tanna.

UPDATED 11:50 a.m. ET: The eye of Cyclone Pam is moving away from Port Vila, toward the islands of Erromango and Tanna. Both islands are also part of Vanuatu, but are sparsely populated.

As feared, Category 5 Cyclone Pam is tearing through the capital of the tiny nation of Vanuatu, a country of about 250,000 people located about 1,200 miles east of Brisbane, Australia.

The storm that was supposed to remain offshore, according to forecasts from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, instead veered to the west and into the capital city of Port Vila, a coastal community of about 50,000 people.

Post by Humans of Vanuatu.

A "red alert" has been issued for all of Vanuatu as the storm, which contains wind gusts close to 200 miles per hour, tears across the capital.

Severe storm surge flooding will occur in vulnerable coastal areas, including parts of Port Vila, and extensive, potentially even catastrophic, wind damage may occur close to the storm's eye as well. Also, heavy rains may cause flash flooding and landslides in elevated terrain. There were signs of a westward track change on Thursday evening eastern time, but the Joint Pacific Typhoon Warning Center and other forecast agencies continued to forecast the storm would not make a direct hit on Vanuatu.

They were wrong.

The periphery of the eye of the storm passed over islands that are home to several thousand people and hit the island of Efate, which is home to Port Vila.

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Alice Clements, a spokeswoman for relief agency UNICEF who is in Port Vila, said earlier Friday the capital was like a ghost town as people took shelter. She said the pelting rain was blown horizontally by the wind.

"The weather has been getting progressively worse for the last two-and-a-half days," she said. "They've put the deck chairs at the hotel I'm staying at into the swimming pool to stop them blowing away. It's quite surreal."

Cyclone Pam's winds visualized using the Earth simulator.

Cyclone Pam's winds visualized using the Earth simulator.

Image: Earth.nullschool.net

She said many people in Vanuatu live in flimsy shelters, especially those on the more remote outer islands. She said those people are extremely vulnerable.

She said she expects a huge cleanup and urgent medical needs after the storm passes.

Visible satellite image of Cyclone Pam nearing the island of Efate in Vanuatu on March 13, 2015.

Visible satellite image of Cyclone Pam nearing the island of Efate in Vanuatu on March 13, 2015.

Image: NASA MODIS

A recent report on natural disaster vulnerability found that Port Vila is the most exposed city to natural disasters of any of the 1,300 cities studied. The Natural Hazards Risk Atlas, published by the British analytics company Verisk Maplecroft, found that Port Vila is at risk for earthquakes, tsunamis and tropical cyclones.

Global warming-related sea level rise is leading to more damaging coastal flooding in island nations such as Vanuatu. The country is one of a bloc of small island states lobbying industrialized nations to undertake steep carbon emissions reductions to avert the most significant impacts of global warming. Other members of the small island alliance also were effected by Cyclone Pam, including Kiribati and the Solomon Islands.

Post by Humans of Vanuatu.

An El Nino event in the Pacific Ocean, along with a potential contribution from climate change, has led to a large area of unusually mild ocean temperatures near Vanuatu, which is providing fuel for Cyclone Pam.

Authorities in New Zealand are preparing for the storm, which is forecast to pass north of the country on Sunday and Monday, but in a weakened state.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press.