Two massive tropical cyclones made landfall on separate ends of the globe on Friday. But they were, as the Associated Press put it, “as different as water and wind.”

The wind storm was Super Typhoon Mangkhut. Deemed the strongest cyclone of 2018, it brought 165 mile-per-hour gusts and 20-foot storm surges to the Philippines, and a bit less of both to Hong Kong. The water storm was Hurricane Florence. The slow-moving storm brought only 90 mile-per-hour winds to North and South Carolina, but also torrential rainfall that set a record for both states.

These differences illustrate what one disaster preparedness expert told me last week. “Every single storm has its own identity, its own footprint,” he said. “No two are ever alike.” But cyclones’ identities are not just shaped by wind speeds and rainfall totals. They’re defined by the communities they target.



Depending on its location, a massive cyclone could be anything from a minor inconvenience to a life-shattering event. The former is more likely in wealthier, more developed places, the latter more in poor and rural areas. This isn’t a hard and fast rule; hurricanes can kill anyone of any class, anywhere near enough to a coast. But it’s been well-documented that hurricanes hit poor, minority communities the hardest. They are more vulnerable to the risks of natural disasters, and struggle most to recover.

Florence and Mangkhut show this phenomenon well. While both were life-threatening storms, the greatest destruction and loss of life was in poor, remote locations. Nearly 100 people are presumed dead across the Philippines, due not only to the strength of the storm but to the area’s weak infrastructure. The rains triggered landslides, including one that partly buried the small mountainside village of Itogon, killing at least 40 people.