Typhoon Ragasa

Typhoon Ragasa, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Nando, was an extremely powerful, large, and destructive tropical cyclone that severely affected the northernmost portions of Luzon island in the Philippines and Hualien County in Taiwan, and impacted Hong Kong, Macau, South China and Vietnam in late September 2025. It is also the second-strongest tropical cyclone worldwide in 2025, behind Hurricane Melissa in the Atlantic. Ragasa is the eighteenth named storm, fifth typhoon, and both the only violent typhoon and Category 5-equivalent super typhoon of the 2025 Pacific typhoon season. Ragasa originated from an area of convection north of Yap that developed into a tropical depression on September 17. Moderate wind shear initially limited organization, but the system was upgraded to a tropical storm the following day and assigned the name Ragasa by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). It gradually intensified over the next two days, becoming a typhoon on September 19. The storm underwent rapid intensification the next morning, reaching its peak intensity as a violent typhoon with a minimum central pressure of 905 hPa (26.7 inHg) and ten-minute sustained winds of 205 km/h (110 kn; 125 mph), and as a Category 5-equivalent super typhoon on the Saffir–Simpson scale with one-minute maximum sustained winds of 270 km/h (145 kn; 170 mph) early on September 22. Shortly thereafter, Ragasa entered an eyewall replacement cycle while retaining its intensity. Ragasa later made landfall over Panuitan Island in Calayan, Cagayan, bringing heavy rains and strong winds over the area and Northern Luzon, and the highest No. 5 signal was issued over the Babuyan Islands. The storm started to weaken gradually as it entered the South China Sea, with a second eyewall replacement cycle having commenced. It later passed near the south of Hong Kong, where the Hong Kong Observatory issued the highest...