Mangkhut vs. Florence: Both deadly but different, here's why
News agency
Tuesday, September 18, 2018, 12:09 PM - Two powerful storms have been causing destruction on opposite sides of the earth, one in the southeastern coast of China and one in the east coast of the U.S., but both have been wreaking havoc in different ways.
(MUST SEE: Dramatic footage of the strongest storm on earth)
Typhoon Mangkhut had winds of 265 km/h, compared to Hurricane Florence, which only had winds of 145 km/h when it hit North Carolina's coast. However, Hurricane Florence was deadly in terms of the amount of rain it produced, causing water damage.
Typhoon Mangkhut formed farther south in the western Pacific where water is warmer, which gave the typhoon the "perfect environment to intensify." In comparison, Hurricane Florence formed near Africa, and was out of the tropics by the time it made landfall, which caused the hurricane to be weakened by the dry air in the region.
(SEE ALSO: Rising flood waters from Florence menace Carolinas)
Experts say that both are "storms of the same type," but those that occur in the Pacific west of the International Date Line are called typhoons instead of hurricanes. They also expect Typhoon Mangkhut to be the deadlier storm, as it has already caused death and destruction in the Philippines, and is now heading for China's southeastern coast.
A CLOSER LOOK AT THE STORMS COMPARED:
Hurricane Florence
Typhoon Mangkhut
