While the Philippines are dealing with one of their worst typhoon seasons everas far as damage and loss of life, deaths and damages are dwarfed by the 2006Tropical Cyclone Season in the West Pacific Basin.More than 850 people have been killed by two typhoons that have hit thePhilippines this season.
Typhoon Parma caused at least $250 million in agricultural damage in thePhilippines, including irrigation facilities and 70,000 tons of crops and theloss of thousands of livestock and poultry.
However, while the 2009 season is not yet over, it has a long way to go as faras coming close to the losses inflicted during the 2006 typhoon season.
Below is a list of the West Pacific Typhoons and losses suffered back through2006:2006- $35.8 billion, around 2,700 deaths2007- $6.3 billion, nearly 400 deaths, 189 still missing.
2008- $5.8 billion, around 1,700 deaths2009- $5.6 billion, around 1,600 deaths, 26 missing.
Now a look at the East Pacific Hurricanes and losses suffered back through2006:2006- $355 million, 14 deaths2007- $80 million, 9 deaths2008- $767.1 million, 23 deaths2009- $373.3 million, 8 deathsThe reasons for the much lower losses in the Eastern Pacific Basin has to dowith the nature of the movement of most tropical cyclones (hurricanes) in thatarea. Most of the storms move away from land, rather than on toward the Mexico,Central America or California coasts. Mexico makes up the bulk of therelatively small number of tropical cyclones that hit the west coast of NorthAmerica.
Southeast Asia is a much more heavily populated part of the globe, compared tothe west coast of Mexico. While some of the tropical cyclones (typhoons)recurve before hitting land, a substantial number plow westward into China,Vietnam and the Philippines, or northward into Japan and Korea.
Story by AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski. GinaCherundolo and Carly Porter contributed to the content of this story.
