=== Report on Typhoon 0418 ===

== (AERE) ==

[October 15 –November 13, 2004]

Figure 1. Aere & its partner (FY-2B IR imagery [25/0902 GMT, August])

Prepared by Huang Chunliang

{Part I} Landfalls

According to the NMC bulletins, Typhoon 0418 (Aere) made four landfalls in the mainland of Fujian Province, which is seized of the most flexuous coastline of China:

Typhoon 0418 (Aere) made landfall in Gaoshan Town, Fuqing City (a sub-city of Fuzhou City), Fujian Province around 25/0830 UTC with a MSW of 36 m/s and a CP of 970 hPa. As a result, Aere had turned out to be the first tropical cyclone that made landfall in Fuzhou with typhoon intensity since Typhoon 0102 (Chebi). Interestingly, the town of Gaoshan has been exactly where deadly Typhoon 0102 (Chebi) made landfall on June 23, 2001.

Typhoon 0418 (Aere) made landfall in Shishi City (a sub-city of Quanzhou City), Fujian Province around 25/1330 UTC with a MSW of 33 m/s and a CP of 970 hPa.

Severe Tropical Storm 0418 (Aere) made landfall in Gangwei Town, Longhai City (a sub-city of Zhangzhou City), Fujian Province around 25/1830 UTC with a MSW of 30 m/s and a CP of 975 hPa.

Tropical Storm 0418 (Aere) made landfall in Dongshan County, Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province around 26/0230 UTC with a MSW of 20 m/s and a CP of 985 hPa.

Figure 2. NMC track map for Typhoon 0418 (Aere)

Besides, this typhoon also passed over at least two of the Fujian islands, including Pingtan Dao (Fuzhou City) and Nanri Dao (Putian City), the former island being the fifth biggest one of China:

- Typhoon Aere made landfall in Pingtan County, Fuzhou City, Fujian Province around 25/0750 UTC.

+ Typhoon Aere made landfall in Nanri Town, Xiuyu District, Putian City, Fujian Province just shortly after moving into the sea from Fuqing’s Longgao Peninsula, where the typhoon made its first landfall in the mainland.

{Part II} Fujian obs

Rain

During the 72-hr period ending at 27/00Z, rains >100 mm were recorded in 26 cities/counties, 7 of which reported rains >200 mm with Fuding (located in Ningde City) reporting the highest amount of 663 mm. (Qinglan Reservoir located in Zherong County, Ningde City reported the highest 24-hr accumulation of 504 mm.)

Wind

13 WMO stations of coastal Fujian reported gusts of gale force or higher:

Station	Peak Gust
Zherong, Ningde City	32 m/s (ESE)
Fu'an, Ningde City	20 m/s (ENE)
Fuding, Ningde City	20 m/s (ENE)
Pingtan, Fuzhou City	27 m/s (NNE)
Fuqing, Fuzhou City	20 m/s (NE)
Xianyou, Putian City	20 m/s (NNE)
Tong'an, Xiamen City	22 m/s (NW)
Xiamen, Xiamen City	33 m/s (NNW)
Chongwu, Quanzhou City	25 m/s (NW)
Zhangpu, Zhangzhou City	21 m/s (N)
Dongshan, Zhangzhou City	19 m/s (W)
Longhai, Zhangzhou City	21 m/s (WNW)

All the insular automatic stations of northern and middle Fujian reported gusts of typhoon force or higher:

Station	Peak Gust	DD/HH
Taishan	37.1 m/s (N)	24/16Z
Xiyang	43.8 m/s (ENE)	25/03Z
Pingtan	35.8 m/s (NNE)	25/08Z
Nanri	43.8 m/s (NW)	25/08Z
Weitou	34.4 m/s (S)	25/16Z

{Part III} Taiwan obs

Rain

A few stations recorded storm totals exceeded 1000 mm:

Station	Rainfall (mm)
Matala, Miaoli County	1546 [22/16-25/12Z]
Pai Lan, Hsinchu County	1335 [22/16-25/12Z]
Hsuen-lin, Taichung County	1243 [22/16-25/15Z]

Wind

Only those stations that reported peak sustained winds of gale force or peak gusts of typhoon force are given:

Station	Peak Sustained Wind (mps/dir/Local Date)	Peak Gust (mps/dir/Local Date)
An Bu (WMO46691)	25.9/350°/24th	42.2/10°/24th
Taipei (WMO46692/58968)	13.3/ 320°/24th	33.1/ 350°/24th
Chu-tzu-hu (WMO46693)	10.2/180°/25th	33.1/20°/25th
Keelung (WMO46694)	17.9/210°/25th	34.4/240°/25th
Ilan (WMO46708)	20.9/330°/24th	34.1/330°/24th
Lanyu (WMO46762/59567)	30.4/ 250°/24th	44.1/ 250°/24th
Kinmen (WMO46736/59135)	24.1/ 270°/25th	31.9/ 280°/25th

{Part IV} Zhejiang obs

During the 31-hr period ending at 25/07Z, rains >100 mm were recorded in 14 stations with Haishan (162.7 mm), Pingyang (157.4 mm) and Wencheng (152.6 mm) ranking the Top Three. Significant gust reports included: Zhaoshandu, Rui'an City (coastal station)--34.9 m/s; Beiji (insular station)--31.4 m/s; Nanji (insular station)--30.4 m/s; Dachen (insular station)--30.1 m/s; etc.

Around 24/1755Z, 6 villages located in Gaoqiao Town, Yinzhou District, Ningbo City were struck by a tornado, which was triggered by Typhoon Aere. The tornado did cause some economic losses, but no casualty was reported.

{Part V} Guangdong obs

Torrential rains lasted for nearly five days (Sep 26--30) in Guangdong during the period when the remnant depression, formerly Typhoon Aere traversed the province from the neighboring Fujian.

Zhuhai City was hammered by Aere's downpours when the remnant arrived in the mouth of Pearl River on the 29^th. Five stations recorded 6-hr [00-06Z] rainfall amounts that ranged from 100 mm to 160 mm. The most torrential rain--38 mm/minute--was reported by the urban area of the city.

{Part VI} Other obs (from Hainan Province, Hong Kong & Macao Special Administrative Regions

Station	Coordinate	Rainfall (mm)
Haikou, Hainan	20.03N 110.35E	154.0 [28/00-29/00Z]
Dongfang, Hainan	19.10N 108.62E	312.8 [27/00-30/00Z]
Danxian, Hainan	19.52N 109.58E	252.9 [27/00-30/00Z]
Hong Kong Int. AP, Hong Kong	22.32N 113.92E	184.1 [28/00-30/00Z]
Taipa Grande, Macao	22.17N 113.57E	215.0 [28/00-30/00Z]

The HKO report on TY Aere can be found at the following link:

http://www.weather.gov.hk/informtc/aere/aere.htm

{Part VII} Damage and Casualties

Fujian

Preliminary statistics on August 26 indicated that the typhoon had caused 2.485 billion yuan of direct economic losses and was responsible for two deaths in the province. Aere also affected 3,479,900 residents in 421 towns of 48 counties of 6 cities in Fujian, where three cities were flooded, 10,100 houses were toppled, 236 embankments and thousands of water conservancy facilities were damaged. Some 937,000 people were evacuated and 10,676 vessels were called back before the typhoon’s clop-clop.

Taiwan

Typhoon Aere pounded northern Taiwan with torrential rains and strong winds before hugging the coast of Fujian, causing widespread disruption to air and sea transport. It caused 24 deaths and left nine people missing in the region. Water supply to 910 000 households was cut off, and power supply to 360 000 households was disrupted. The economic losses were estimated to have been at least NT$ 400 million.

{Part VIII} First “Black Typhoon” for Fuzhou

The local government of Fuzhou, the provincial capital of Fujian, ordered work to stop at all construction sites and cancelled after-class activities at schools and universities when the city was under their first Black Typhoon Signal in history. (Starting from 2003, a system of color-coded typhoon warning signals labeled white, green, yellow, red and black in an ascending order was employed in Fujian Province to give information to the residents on the existence and the potential threat of a tropical cyclone. A Black Typhoon Signal, the most severe of the five grades, indicates that a tropical cyclone is affecting the district or is to affect the district within the next 12 hours with sustained wind of Beaufort Force 12 or higher.)

Typhoon Aere did play havoc with the traffic of the city. Flights associated with the Changle Int. AP, where happened to be the destination of my flight departed from Shanghai (please refer to Part IX for HCl's encounter with Typhoon Aere), was either cancelled or delayed and the whole airdrome had to be shut down for several hours during the typhoon. Meanwhile, the traffic of the urban area, as well as several thruways starting from the city were also under extraordinary control. Railages and buses travelling on local short-distance routes, however, were immune from the storm.

{Part IX} HCl’s “Reconnaissance Mission” on Aere

Below is my experience of coming up against Typhoon Aere in the air of 10,000 meters above the sea level. (Time in BJT, i.e., GMT + 8 hours.)

I booked an airline ticket of MF8548 (Shanghai--Fuzhou, 05:05 p.m. on the 25th of August) 9 days ahead of schedule. Of course, I didn't know beforehand that it would become my first “reconnaissance mission” on a typhoon, which shared the same destination with me exactly on the same afternoon.

However, hardly had I arrived at the Shanghai Hongqiao Int. AP that afternoon when I saw the notice, saying the MF8548 had been cancelled due to the severe weather condition on the port of destination, nevertheless a few hours later, we're informed that all the scheming passengers of MF8548 had been incorporated into another delayed flight, MF8542, which should have been the first one heading for Fuzhou that afternoon.

My plane eventually took off from Shanghai Hongqiao Int. AP in good weather condition at 09:35 p.m. So the take-off and climb were smooth enough for me to enjoy the beautiful nocturne of Shanghai in a merry mood. As soon as we reached cruising altitude, the public address announced to the passengers that the plane was scheduled to arrive at the port of destination on the hour at 10:35 p.m.

Being on a night flight for the first time (though not out of my original intention), I was fairly busy looking out of the window just next to my seat--12F--during the in-flight services. At prime tense I managed to see nothing but the faint horizon. However, as we flied more and more southward, the grey clouds emerged and then increased gradually. I also noticed that all the video screens overhead were kept off all the way. Besides, everything remained well-regulated with a few week turbulences until the “landing time” (of Plan A) drew near.

A powerful turbulence burst around 10:20 p.m. and lasted for nearly two minutes. The plane was jounced so violently that one of the passengers was shook to vomit. (I realized afterwards that the "Fasten Seat Belts" sign lighted before the turbulence, was not cancelled until the plane pulled in.)

It was 10:35 p.m., the exact scheduled time for landing, whereas the plane seemed refused to even drop in altitude! As a result, the majority of the passengers (including me), whether acquaintance or not, began to whisper to each other. Before long, the public address sounded again in due course, notifying that the landing time had been remitted to 11:05 p.m. (so they're going to go with Plan B), which would become the bona fide one.

Well, it still remains a mystery to me where the plane went on earth during the 30-minute “overtime”. Was it changing the flight course provisionally? Or just hovering over the city of Fuzhou? I have no idea. But the moon could have played the role of evidence, which could be observed gleamingly against the backdrop of high clouds, in the direction of the starboard side plus a small component towards the tail of plane, during a span of the “overtime”. Before this, however, the moon never came into view.

During the most of the “overtime”, we’re lacking of everything but one-by-one turbulences, among which, another powerful one made another passengers vomit. This one also lasted for nearly two minutes when the plane was struggling through the typhoon as if we’re riding on an obstinate and unruly broncho.

Surprisingly, the ultima landing turned out to be a relative smooth one. “Thank goodness!” “At last we're safe now!”...some of the passengers soliloquized when the plane was sliding on the damp airstrip of Fuzhou Changle Int. AP around 11:05 p.m.

Looking back on the satellite pics, the hazy eye of Typhoon Aere, which had weakened into an intensity of 65 knots (per NMC), was located near 24.6 N, 118.6 E when my plane was landing near 26.0 N, 119.5 E.

Figure 3. Radar views of Typhoon Aere

Left: Fuzhou Radar [25/0632 UTC]

Middle: Taipei Radar [24/1700 UTC]

Right: Xiamen Radar [25/1006 UTC]