This storm was not the most powerful of the year by any means, but was the most deadliest meteorological event of the year. This was due to a combination of reasons, the main being being the climotolgical nature of the region it struck. The Philippines as a whole is one of the most effected countries in the World pertaining to Tropical Systems. But that is mainly concentrated in
from Visayas to Northern Luzon. Often storms do not have enough coriolos force to gain enough cyclonic circulation As far South as Mindanao where Washi made landfall. This fact led to poor locations of many communities in the region being located in low lying flood plains that may have not been filled in several decades.
Satellite imagery just prior to landfall indicated a strong and intense line of a continous rain band moving on shore with the
tropical System, this led to nearly 10 hours of continuous rainfall dropping over 200mm of rainfall in many locations. This combined with river runoff caused wide spread flash flooding across the Northern Portions of Mindanao leading to over 1,200 deaths. The image to the right displays where the heaviest rainfall was located during the course of this storm.
Read our Lessons Learned from Wahi/Sendong for more information on how and why this storm was so deadly.