Super Typhoon “Karding” is comparable to two equally strong typhoons that hit the country in the past two years – “Ulysses” in 2020 and “Odette” in 2021 – the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) revealed on Friday, Oct. 7.
The OCD released a comparative analysis of the three typhoons which showed that Karding is comparable to Ulysses in terms of affected areas; and to Odette in terms of intensity.
Citing data from the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) as of Thursday, the OCD said that Karding” has the strongest wind strength at 195 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center and gustiness of 290 kph.
Data from PAGASA showed that Odette had a wind strength of 195 kph near the center and gustiness of 260 kph while Ulysses had 165 kph wind strength and gustiness of 205 kph.
Karding also warranted the raising of the highest wind signal at Tropical Cyclone Warning Sugnal (TCWS) No. 5, compared to Odette’s Signal No. 4 and Ulysses’ Signal No. 3.
“Regardless, situation reports reveal that so far, STY Karding recorded a significant decrease in the thumber of affected populations, casualties, and cost of damage,” the OCD mentioned.
Karding has affected 364,741 families or 1,380,974 individuals as it passed through Central Luzon from Sept. 21 to 26.
This was significantly lower compared to 2.55 million families or 9.07 individuals affected by Odette when it barreled Southern Leyte from Dec. 14 to 18, 2021; and 1.26 million families or 9.07 million individuals affected by Ulysses when it devastated Central Luzon from Nov. 8 to 13, 2020.
Karding also has a lower casualty count as it registered 12 deaths, five missing persons, and 68 injured individuals.
Odette had the highest casualty count among the three, recording 409 deaths, 1,384 injured, and 65 missing; while Ulysses had 51 deaths.
As for the cost of damage, Karding has the lowest agricultural and infrastructure loss among the three typhoons. It has an estimated P2.9 billion damage to agriculture and P304 million damage to infrastructure.
Odette proved to be the most destructive as it totaled P16.89 billion loss in agriculture and P17.38 billion damage in infrastructure while Ulysses had P7.32 billion agricultural loss and P12.91 billion infrastructure damage.