BACK-TO-BACK SUPER TYPHOONS SLAM INTO THE PHILIPPINES

These are anxious days for Cayman’s Filipino community as they wonder about their relatives and friends back home following a double-whammy of two major typhoons.

The second of two destructive storms slammed into the country this past Sunday. 

Typhoon Fung-wong, referred to locally as Uwan, came just days after superstorm Kalmaegi which smashed into the country, causing extensive damage and leaving over 200 people dead and around 100 unaccounted for.

The nationwide misery caused by Kalmaegi, one of the strongest typhoons to hit the Philippines this year, has been made worse by Typhoon Fung-wong with winds of over 115mph and gusts over 140mph.

Fung-wong (or Uwan) slammed ashore in northeastern Aurora province on Sunday night, rated as another super typhoon. It has also left in its wake a trail of death and destruction, compounding the previous week’s disaster.

Meteorologists have described Uwan as one of the strongest and fastest-developing storms of 2025.

Typhoon Kalmaegi pounded the central provinces of the Philippines last Tuesday, and less than a week later the country’s eastern and northern provinces were hammered by Uwan. Extensive damage was reported in the mountainous provinces and agricultural areas. According to news reports, close to one and a half million people took refuge in emergency shelters.

The Philippines is hit by about 20 typhoons and storms each year.

Similar to hurricanes, typhoons are tropical cyclones which are named differently depending on where they occur.

In the Atlantic and Caribbean, central and northeast Pacific, they are called hurricanes, in the northwest Pacific including the Philippines they are known as typhoons, while in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, they are called cyclones.

The intensity rating method for typhoons lists them from tropical depression, tropical storm and severe tropical storm to typhoon and super typhoon.

The Philippines was just hit by two of the most severe typhoons on the scale within days of each other.

Meanwhile, in Jamaica which was struck by late-season Category 5 Hurricane Melissa just over a week ago, the country continues to reel from the impact of that storm.

The extent of the destruction to the western areas is becoming clearer with each passing day. This is leading officials to conclude that it’s much worse than previously thought, as the death toll continues to rise and the cost of damage and recovery spirals.

Like the Filipino community in Cayman, the Jamaican diaspora is equally worried about the situation in the neighbouring island.