SURVEY OF STORM SURGE DUE TO TYPHOON RAI IN DECEMBER 2021 IN THE PHILIPPINES

Abstract

Typhoon Rai, the last typhoon in the Western Pacific basin in 2021, entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) on the 14th December at 23:00 Philippine Standard Time with a minimum central pressure of 985 hPa and maximum sustained winds of 100 km/h (NDRRMC 2022). The typhoon made its first of nine landfalls at Siargao Island in Surigao del Norte on the 16th December 2021 13:30 PST and continued to bring strong winds and rainfall to the Visayas region. The storm was one of the strongest typhoons to have hit the Philippines in recent times, and the government declared a State of Calamity across 493 cities and municipalities (NDRRMC 2022). The typhoon damaged more than 1.1 million houses in the Central Visayas region, and caused a total of 220 total reported deaths and 546 injuries. In the present work, the authors surveyed the storm surge heights in a variety of coastal areas of Cebu and Bohol islands.