Typhoon Damrey, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Labuyo, was a

typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

that hit Vietnam and China in September 2005. The typhoon was the most powerful storm to affect

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...

in over 30 years, killing more than 113 people.

Meteorological history

Due to its proximity to the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

PAGASA Pagasa may refer to: * ''Pagasa'' (genus), an insect genus in the family Nabidae * PAGASA, an acronym for the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration *"May Pagasa", a pen-name of José Rizal José Prot ...

assigned it the name Labuyo and began issuing advisories to the east of the islands on September 19. The

Japan Meteorological Agency The , abbreviated JMA, is an agency of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. It is charged with gathering and providing results for the public in Japan that are obtained from data based on daily scientific observation an ...

gave warnings on the same day. On September 20, the storm was classified as a tropical depression 17W by the

Joint Typhoon Warning Center The Joint typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) is a joint United States Navy – United States Air Force command in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The JTWC is responsible for the issuing of tropical cyclone warnings in the North-West Pacific Ocean, South P ...

(JTWC). On September 21, the JTWC upgraded it to a tropical storm and assigned it the name Damrey ( Khmer: ដំរី; lit.:

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae an ...

). Damrey strengthened into a typhoon on September 24. Damrey made landfall at

Wanning Wanning or in local Hainanese dialect as Ban Ning is a county-level city in the southeast of Hainan Province, China. Although called a "city", Wanning refers to both the county seat and to the entire county as a whole. The county-wide area h ...

, China's

province, at 20:00 UTC on September 25 (04:00 on September 26, local time). It had maximum sustained winds up to 180 km/h. This made Damrey the strongest typhoon to strike Hainan since Typhoon Marge in September

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

. At least 16 people are believed to have died in China, and the entire province of Hainan suffered power outages. Damrey went on to impact

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

before losing tropical characteristics. The JTWC ceased advisories on September 27, with the final one taking place at 09:00 UTC, once the system was south-southwest of

Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...

, Vietnam.

Preparations

In the

, officials in the province of

Ilocos Norte Ilocos Norte, officially the Province of Ilocos Norte ( ilo, Probinsia ti Ilocos Norte; tl, Lalawigan ng Ilocos Norte), is a province of the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region. Its capital is Laoag City, located in the northwest corner of ...

evacuated nearly 20,000 residents from flood-prone regions to schools being used as temporary shelters. In fourteen of the country's provinces, storm signal one, the lowest on a scale of four, was issued by meteorologists.

Impact

Throughout southeastern Asia, Typhoon Damrey was considered one of the worst typhoons in history. Many places sustained damage not seen in several decades. In Hainan Island, the entire province was without power at one point, a highly unusual event. Additionally, Typhoon Damrey became the strongest storm to make landfall on the island since Typhoon Della in 1974. In Vietnam, Damrey was referred to as the worst typhoon to strike the country in nine years.

Philippines

As a tropical storm, Damrey produced significant rainfall across portions of the Philippines. The highest rainfall total was recorded in

Daet, Camarines Norte Daet (), officially the Municipality of Daet ( bcl, Banwaan kan Daet; tl, Bayan ng Daet), is a 1st class municipality and capital of the province of Camarines Norte, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 111,700 peo ...

at . Widespread flash flooding triggered by these rains led to substantial agricultural and property damage. In the agricultural department alone, officials estimated that the storm wrought over 1 billion

Philippine peso The Philippine peso, also referred to by its Tagalog name ''piso'' (Philippine English: , , plural pesos; tl, piso ; sign: ₱; code: PHP), is the official currency of the Philippines. It is subdivided into 100 ''sentimo'', also called ce ...

s (USD 21.4 million) in losses. Over 9,000 hectares (22,239 acres) of rice and corn fields were flooded in

Isabela Province ; gad, Probinsia na Isabela; tl, Lalawigan ng Isabela) , settlement_type = , image_skyline = , image_caption = (from top: left to right) Pacific coast in Dinapigue, Sierra Madre Mountains, Magat Dam, Cagaya ...

alone. Throughout the country, 16 people were killed as a result of flooding, several of whom were children from Isabela Province. Landslides along the major roadway between the provinces of

and

Cagayan Cagayan ( ), officially the Province of Cagayan ( ilo, Probinsia ti Cagayan; ibg, Provinsiya na Cagayan; itv, Provinsiya ya Cagayan; fil, Lalawigan ng Cagayan), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the C ...

were impassable, due to landslides and downed trees. Farther west, 35 villages were flooded in the provinces of

Camarines Sur Camarines Sur ( bcl, Habagatan na Camarines; tl, Timog Camarines), officially the Province of Camarines Sur, is a province in the Philippines located in the Bicol Region on Luzon. Its capital is Pili and the province borders Camarines Norte and ...

and

Albay Albay,