CATEGORY 5 SUPER TYPHOON SOUDELOR IS WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL STORM
THIS is now officially the world’s biggest category 5 typhoon, which has left a trail of devastation in its wake.
While estimates of the cost of damage to areas like the Marianas are yet to come in, super Typhoon Soudelor developed into the world’s most powerful storm of the year by Tuesday as it took aim at Japan, Taiwan and China.
The storm was roaring across the western Pacific Ocean packing wind gusts up to 220 miles per hour (354km/h) according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center which rated it a maximum category five.
It was stronger than Cyclone Pam, the previous strongest storm of 2015, which killed at least 15 people when it slammed into Vanuatu, also in the Pacific, five months ago.
It was so big it can be seen eating across the ocean from space.
Japan Meteorology Agency captured footage of the storm moving through on the Himawari satellite.
No deaths have been attributed to Soudelor, but it left a trail of destruction across the Northern Marianas where acting governor Ralph Torres declared a “state of major disaster and significant emergency” after it struck late Sunday.
Nearly 400 people were packed in emergency shelters after Soudelor ripped roofs off houses and left residents without power, water and wastewater services.
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