Typhoon Patsy, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Yoling, was the twenty-seventh named storm, twelfth typhoon, and seventh

super typhoon Tropical cyclones are ranked on one of five tropical cyclone intensity scales, according to their maximum sustained winds and which tropical cyclone basins they are located in. Only a few scales of classifications are used officially by the mete ...

of the

1970 Pacific typhoon season The 1970 Pacific typhoon season has no official bounds; it ran year-round in 1970, but most tropical cyclones tend to form in the northwestern Pacific Ocean between June and December. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year whe ...

. On November 14, 1970, a tropical disturbance organized sufficiently to be designated a tropical depression. A steady intensification carried Tropical Storm Patsy's windspeeds up to 155 mph (250 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 918 mbar. It made landfall in

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

with sustained winds of 130 mph (210 km/h) on November 19. After emerging in the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...

, Patsy remained at tropical storm strength. It struck

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 ...

during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

as a weak tropical storm on November 22. The 8-day-old cyclone dissipated shortly after its final landfall. US$80 million ($403 million in 2005) in damage was reported to have been caused by Patsy, though the total was likely higher. Deaths were officially reported to be 241, but an estimated 30 people unofficially died in Vietnam, raising the toll to 271+. An additional 351 people were reported missing. The total deaths and damage will likely never be known, as the Vietnam War was raging at the same time.

Meteorological history

A tropical disturbance was spotted south-southeast of

Wake Island Wake Island ( mh, Ānen Kio, translation=island of the kio flower; also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia subregion, east of Guam, west of Honolulu, southeast of To ...

on November 10 close to the International Date Line and moved west. Warm waters and weakened shear allowed the storm to organize into Tropical Depression 27W on November 14 near the

Marianas Islands The Mariana Islands (; also the Marianas; in Chamorro: ''Manislan Mariånas'') are a crescent-shaped archipelago comprising the summits of fifteen longitudinally oriented, mostly dormant volcanic mountains in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, betw ...

. A strong ridge to its north forced it westward, where it upgraded to tropical storm status later on November 14, receiving the name Patsy. When Patsy was just barely above the threshold of tropical storm-strength, it slowed and passed just north of

Saipan Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commonwealth (U.S. insular area), commonwealth of the United States in the western Pa ...

. Patsy continued to steadily intensify, reaching typhoon strength on November 16, 200 miles (322 km) northwest of

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

. The typhoon peaked at 155 mph (250 km/h) on November 18. Its inflow became disrupted by the Philippines to its west, and Patsy hit Luzon on November 19 with winds of 130 mph (210 km/h), making it the 3rd strong typhoon to strike the island since September and made a direct hit over the National Capital Region of Metro Manila, then known as the Greater Manila area, catching many offguard. After crossing the Philippines and weakening to a Category 2, Patsy traversed the

, where cooler waters kept the system from strengthening. This caused the cyclone to continue a weakening trend until it was downgraded to a tropical storm on November 20. On November 22, Patsy struck Vietnam as a 45 mph (70 km/h) tropical storm, and dissipated soon after.

Impact

Patsy killed 262 people, injured 1,756, with another 351nah7300.tmp
missing. Damage totals came in at

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

80 million (US$403 million in 2005), mostly in the Philippines.

Philippines

Typhoon Patsy was one of the deadliest typhoons to strike the Philippines in its history. 106 people were killed (with 351 others missing) on the island, and 135 people were killed at sea from shipping failures. The '' USS President Taft'' was separated from its anchorage and collided with the '' Alikimon'', a Greek vessel, while in

Manila Bay Manila Bay ( fil, Look ng Maynila) is a natural harbor that serves the Port of Manila (on Luzon), in the Philippines. Strategically located around the capital city of the Philippines, Manila Bay facilitated commerce and trade between the Phili ...

. Another two ships were blown ashore in the Bay. On land, 31,380 of the refugees' homes were either destroyed or damaged. The mass destruction caused in the Metro Manila National Capital Region, then known as the Greater Manila area, mainly by many being caught almost totally unprepared, destroyed many power lines and well into the next month, where many areas in the metropolis still waiting for electric power to be restored.

Records

Patsy was the deadliest tropical cyclone to strike

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

since the establishment of the Philippine Weather Bureau in 1865 until 2009 when Typhoon Ketsana (Ondoy) affected the Philippine capital Manila, along with nearby provinces.

References

External links

JTWC Report

Retired Philippine typhoon names {{DEFAULTSORT:Patsy (1970) 1970 Pacific typhoon season Typhoons in Vietnam Typhoon Patsy Typhoons