Super Typhoon Noul Pounds the Philippines

As Tropical Storm Ana makes landfall on the coast of the Carolinas as the first named tropical cyclone of the 2015 season in the Atlantic, in the western Pacific the 2015 typhoon season started back in January. Following three tropical cyclones and two full blown typhoons so far already in 2015 here's how things look over there at the moment:

NASA “true-color” image of Super Typhoon Noul on May 10th 2015, derived from bands 1, 4 and 3 of the MODIS sensor on the Aqua satellite

As you can see super typhoon Noul is about to make landfall, in this case in Cayagan Province in the northeast of Luzon, the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Here's what the latest bulletin about Noul from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center has to say:

WARNING POSITION:
100600Z — NEAR 17.9N 122.6E
MOVEMENT PAST SIX HOURS – 325 DEGREES AT 11 KTS
POSITION ACCURATE TO WITHIN 015 NM
POSITION BASED ON EYE FIXED BY SATELLITE
MAX SUSTAINED WINDS – 140 KT, GUSTS 170 KT
MAXIMUM SIGNIFICANT WAVE HEIGHT AT 100600Z IS 47 FEET.

As you can also now appreciate, Noul is a much stronger storm than Ana. Here's what the Philippines' National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council report in their 11:00 bulletin on May 10th, using their own name for the storm:

Typhoon Dogong has accelerated as it moves closer to Sta. Ana Point, Cayagan.
Maximum sustained winds of 185 kph near the centre and gustiness of up to 220 kph.
Forecast to move Northwest at 20 kph.
Wave Height (Open Sea) more than 14.0 meters.

For Northeastern Cagayan the projected effects of Noul include:

Very heavy damage to high risk structures

Heavy damage to medium risk structures

Moderate damage to low risk structures

Many houses of medium-built  materials are unroofed, some with collapsed walls; extensive damage to doors and windows

There is almost total damage to banana plantation

Most mango trees, ipil-ipil and similar types of large trees are downed or broken

Coconut plantation may suffer extensive damage

Rice and corn plantation may suffer severe losses

As we wait to discover the full extent of the damage to life, limb and property wrought by Noul, already waiting in the wings is "Dolphin".