Posted on 12/01/2012 3:28:19 PM PST by dirtboy
The air that now blankets Palau is warm, dry, still, and disturbingly ominous. Palau’s sky has reason to brood for in less than 24 hours Typhoon Bopha is predicted to make landfall on the tiny nation of the Republic of Palau with a near direct hit. This typhoon has been securing strength and intensity while at sea and is expected to be a monster typhoon with a violent entry.
As of 4am on December 2, 2012, this typhoon is predicted to sustain 150-mph winds and 180-mph gusts when it reaches Palau on early morning Monday. If that were not enough, storm force winds extend out from the center to 120 miles and maximum wave height is now estimated at 48 feet.
Typhoon Bopha defies all parameters with intense rainfall, huge diameters and fierce, harnessed winds. Yet, what makes Typhoon Bopha a “typhoon in a million” is that it has developed five-degrees from the equator, an area which is covered by the “Coriolis force.” The Coriolis effect forces a counterclockwise rotation for all storms in the Northern Hemisphere (storms south of the equator rotate clockwise). According to Wikpedia, since records began, only thirteen tropical cyclones have ever existed between 5°N and 5°S of the equator.
Palau lies on the edge of the typhoon belt and has never seen a typhoon of this magnitude
It’s kinda like our own Typhoon B.
What in the world are 21000 people doing in that miserable place? Mining?
FEMA is going to catch hell after this one hits. Dubya too!
Never mind. I’m thinking of Peleliu.
http://www.oceaniatv.net/2012/12/01/typhoon-bopha-update-eerie-calm-over-palau-2/
Palau is dead still right now, with almost an eerie calmness. It belies the impending typhoon disaster that seems to be tracking its way directly for Palau. Any tropical cyclone approaching within 180 miles of Koror is considered a threat to Palau. The latest information has Typhoon Bopha approaching within 15 miles of Koror. In its steady approach, Typhoon Bopha is gaining strength and is expected to reach Palau late Sunday evening with sustained winds of 125 miles per hour and gusts up to 155 miles per hour. This will be the most powerful storm Palau has experienced since before 1941.
Typhoon Bopha is projected to land in mid-Babeldoab with major impact to Palau’s city center Koror. Some businesses and households are beginning to prepare; however, there seems to be a general sense of disbelief that the storm is coming and how powerful it will be when it arrives. Driving through the downtown city center only three or four businesses have boarded up their windows. Some locals have explained that “it always turns north” representing a general distrust in the meterological predictions for Typhoon Bopha.
Palau is an island nation with no building codes. A large majority of homes are built with wood frames and tin roofs. The potential for wide spread destruction is unfathomable. Residents of Palau’s northern state of Kayangel, a low lying atoll, have refused to evacuate and the government is not imposing a mandatory evacuation. The last large storm to hit Palau was Typhoon Marie in 1976 with peak gusts of of 86 mph. However, no severe storm has has ever been recorded as effecting Palau. Typhoon Sally had recorded winds of only 89 miles in 1967. Typhoon Sally in 1967 caused wide spread destruction.
Dubya particularly. It is all Bush’s fault as any obama worshiper will tell you.
INB4 Obama sends more aid there than Staten Island!
‘We’ will pay for their clean up. Man I hope those Uyghurs we gave’em can swim.
Guess what the MSM will blame for this?
The MSM is going to talk up every big storm as global worming aren’t they?
Palau (i/pəˈlaʊ/, sometimes spelled Belau or Pelew), officially the Republic of Palau (Palauan: Beluu ęr a Belau), is an island country located in the western Pacific Ocean. Geographically part of the larger island group of Micronesia, with the country's population of around 21,000 people spread out over 250 islands forming the western chain of the Caroline Islands. The islands share maritime boundaries with Indonesia, the Philippines, and the Federated States of Micronesia. The most populous island in the group is Koror, with the capital city, Ngerulmud, located on nearby Babeldaob.
They had better start moving that island now before it gets capsized like Guam.
Are you kidding? It’s a beautiful island with great fishing and diving . Micronesia is incredible.
Palau is about to be Bopha’d
The big problem with this storm is it is much further south than typical super typhoons. There is little Coriolis effect this close to the Equator. So both Palau and the section of the Philippines that Bopha is forecast to cross are not used to dealing with typhoons, let alone supertyphoons.
A good question. Of course one could always ask "where would they go?" because no country that you'd want to immigrate to wants immigrants these days. But there are also facts from Wikipedia:
Palau's economy consists primarily of tourism, subsistence agriculture, and fishing. Tourist activity focuses on scuba diving and snorkeling in the islands' rich marine environment, including its barrier reefs walls and World War II wrecks. The government is the major employer of the work force, relying heavily on financial assistance from the US. [...]Taxes are moderate, the income tax has 3 brackets with medium rates (9.3%, 15% and 19.6%), corporate tax is 4% and general sales tax is 7.5%. There are no property taxes.
Let's count: tropical climate, abundance of fish, job paid by someone else's money, no property taxes... what more do you actually want? :-) They have it made, more so than the people in 57 states.
Probably more a matter of money than building codes.
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