page_title: Typhoon Chanchu
section_title: The Philippines and Malaysia
hierarchical_section_title: Typhoon Chanchu / Impact / The Philippines and Malaysia
caption_attribution_description: English: Typhoon Chanchu (known as Caloy in the Philippines) brought strong winds and heavy rains to the central Philippines as the storm passed through the mid-section of the country. This image shows rainfall totals around the Philippines from May 8-12, 2006, based on data collected by the Topical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) as Typhoon Chanchu approached and crossed the island chain. In particular, it shows the changing patterns of light and heavy rain as the storm system approached the islands. The storm’s most dramatically heavy rain fell offshore, when the storm was particularly intense, but rains decreased as the typhoon crossed the islands. The image was compiled from the TRMM-based, near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, which monitors rainfall over the global tropics. Though not a particularly powerful storm, Chanchu was responsible for 8 reported deaths as of May 14, 2006, six of which occurred when a boat capsized while traveling between islands, according to news reports. Chanchu became a tropical depression on May 9, 2006, east of the main southern island, Mindanao. The system then organized into a tropical storm and moved west-northwest before making landfall on the island of Samar in the central Philippines on the evening of May 11 as a Category 1 typhoon. Chanchu regained strength, briefly becoming a Category 2 storm, as it passed between the central islands before hitting Mindoro Island and weakening somewhat. TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency, JAXA. Since its launch in 1997, TRMM has provided valuable information on tropical storms. With an active radar and a passive microwave sensor, TRMM can peer into the core of these storms and relay details on storm structure and location to forecasters.
context_page_description: Typhoon Chanchu, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Caloy, was the most intense typhoon in the South China Sea in the month of May according to the Hong Kong Observatory. The first named storm of the 2006 Pacific typhoon season, Chanchu formed on May 8 in the vicinity of the Federated States of Micronesia and progressed westward. It gradually intensified into a tropical storm and later severe tropical storm before moving through the Philippines. On May 13, Chanchu entered the South China Sea and became a typhoon, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. Warm waters and favorable outflow allowed the storm to quickly intensify to peak maximum sustained winds of 175 km/h on May 15. Around that time, the typhoon turned sharply to the north toward southeastern China. Chanchu weakened as it curved to the northeast, making landfall near Shantou, Guangdong on May 17 as a severe tropical storm. The government of China considered Chanchu the earliest typhoon to make landfall in the province. On the next day, the storm emerged into the East China Sea, becoming extratropical on May 19 before dissipating west of Kyushu.
context_section_description: While moving through the Philippines, Chanchu affected several islands with strong winds and heavy rainfall. In Legazpi, Albay, strong waves wrecked 100 homes and left 1,500 people homeless. High winds left widespread power outages, particularly in Mindoro, Batangas, and across the Bicol Region. The storm severely damaged the banana industry and affected various other fruit crops. Near Metro Manila, the winds damaged billboards, knocked over trees, and caused isolated power outages. Rough seas sank a ferry off Masbate, despite a warning against the operation of small craft, having left at sunrise to avoid the police. The Coast Guard rescued 18 passengers, but 28 people died in the wreck. An empty ferry sank at port in Tabaco. A ferry with 700 people aboard went missing, but the Coast Guard found it washed ashore with everyone safe on board. Similarly, an oil tanker washed ashore at Pinamalayan, Oriental Mindoro, and its crew of 13 was rescued. Throughout the country, Chanchu killed 41 people, mostly from the Masabate ferry wreck. The storm damaged 5,630 homes, and destroyed 1,013 others, forcing 53,307 people to leave their homes. Agricultural losses totaled ₱71.57 million (PHP, US$1.3 million), chiefly to the corn harvest, with an additional ₱46 million (PHP, US$850,000) in infrastructure damage.
  While stalled over the South China Sea, Chanchu's large circulation caused an increase in rainfall over Malaysia. The typhoon brought the onset of the summer monsoon in the South China Sea after shifting the prevailing winds over the region.
caption: Rainfall from Chanchu up to May 12
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