Typhoon Vongfong (2020)

Typhoon Vongfong (Ambo)

Vongfong nearing landfall on the island of Samar on May 14
Meteorological history
Formed	May 8, 2020
Dissipated	May 18, 2020
Very strong typhoon
10-minute sustained (JMA)
Highest winds	155 km/h (100 mph)
Lowest pressure	960 hPa (mbar); 28.35 inHg
Category 3-equivalent typhoon
1-minute sustained (SSHWS/JTWC)
Highest winds	185 km/h (115 mph)
Lowest pressure	961 hPa (mbar); 28.38 inHg
Overall effects
Fatalities	5
Damage	$50 million (2020 USD)
Areas affected	Palau, Philippines, Taiwan
IBTrACS
Part of the 2020 Pacific typhoon season

Typhoon Vongfong, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Ambo, was a strong tropical cyclone that impacted the Philippines in May 2020. Beginning as a tropical depression on May 10 east of Mindanao, Vongfong was the first storm of the 2020 Pacific typhoon season. It gradually organized as it took a slow northward course, strengthening into a tropical storm on May 12 and curving west thereafter. The next day, Vongfong entered a period of rapid intensification, becoming a typhoon and attaining 10-minute maximum sustained winds of 150 km/h (93 mph). The storm made landfall at this intensity near San Policarpo, Eastern Samar, at 04:15 UTC on May 14. The system tracked across Visayas and Luzon, making a total of seven landfalls. Persistent land interaction weakened Vongfong, leading to its degeneration into a tropical depression over the Luzon Strait on May 17.

Preparations for the typhoon were complicated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Shelters that opened had to be modified in order to accommodate health guidelines and social distancing. Throughout the Philippines, Vongfong caused around ₱1.57 billion (US$31.1 million) in damage, and killed five people.^[1][2]