Strongest Storm on Earth in 2016: Typhoon Meranti to Hit Taiwan and China

The strongest storm on the Earth in 2016 has hit two Asian countries namely Taiwan and China. Super Typhoon Meranti, with sustained winds of 185 mph, had barrelled through Taiwan at a record of 18 hours. Right after hitting Taiwan, the super typhoon had wreaked havoc in China.

"This puts Meranti in the elite pantheon of the deepest tropical cyclones ever recorded anywhere on Earth. Several others have had 890 mb central pressure, but only a few have dipped below that mark, including 3 hurricanes in the Atlantic and 13 typhoons in the Northwest Pacific," explains Jeff Masters at Weather Underground about Typhoon Meranti's pressure of 890 millibars.

In just 36 hours, satellite images captured of the typhoon which had changed from a category 1 typhoon to a category 5 hurricane. At least 200,000 households lost power due to the storm. Typhoon Meranti is the second typhoon to have disastrous effects on the country in 2016 alone. In July, typhoon Nepartak had devastated the southern part of Taiwan before making its way to China.

Right after hitting Taiwan, the super typhoon Meranti had made a landfall in China, between Shantou and Xiamen. Fujian and Guangdong are at risk of large waves and a storm surge. The winds of the typhoon had reached up to 230 km/h, and had been categorized as a Category 4 hurricane. According to reports, the typhoon will most likely affect 20 million people.

Typhoon Meranti is not the only storm that could possibly hit Taiwan. Following right after Meranti is typhoon Malakas, which trails west-northwest. Typhoon Malakas is said to intensify from category 2 to category 3 by Thursday. If the plotted trajectory based on satellite images is correct, Malakas would move towards the Okinawa Islands in Japan and would spare Taiwan of another typhoon.

Typhoon Meranti joins three other category 5 storms recorded in 2016 namely Winston, Nepartak and Fantala.