Typhoon Rita, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Kading, was the most powerful tropical cyclone during the 1978 Pacific typhoon season and one of the most intense tropical cyclones on record. A long-lived and destructive tropical cyclone, Rita began its journey east of the Marshall Islands and rapidly moved westwards, becoming a typhoon on October 20. Rita continued rapid intensification and attained super typhoon status and later an atmospheric pressure of on October 25. Rita struck the Philippines overnight on October 26 and entered the South China Sea as a minimal typhoon. Rita caused extreme damage and more than 300 deaths.
Meteorological history
Rita originated from a tropical depression that originated east of the Marshall Islands, near the International Date Line, on October 17. It rapidly intensified while moving westward and became a typhoon on October 20, about south-southwest of Wake Island. Rita continued rapid intensification and became a Category 4-equivalent super typhoon on October 23.
At 6:22 A.M., local time, on October 24, a reconnaissance aircraft reported a minimum pressure reading of and maximum surface winds of . Rita continued to move westward and late in the evening of the same day, Rita passed of Guam, where heavy damages to banana plantations were reported. Rita continued moving rapidly westward towards Luzon at a speed of . Rita's central pressure fell to a minimum of when it was about east of Manila at noon on October 25. Satellite pictures received later in the afternoon revealed a distinct eye and good cirrus outflow associated with the circulation of Rita. During the following night, on October 26, Rita made landfall over Luzon, causing disastrous damage and leaving 200,000 homeless. Baler, located on the east coast of Luzon, reported gusts of when the storm passed just to the south of it. Infanta, located south of Baler, reported a minimum sea-level pressure of .
Rita entered the South China Sea on October 27 and gradually accelerated in speed as it moved west-northwest towards Hainan. Its circulation remained intense with a large area of strong winds even though it weakened significantly after striking the Philippines. A fishing boat called the San Jose II went aground on a reef about southwest of Manila during the evening of October 27. In Hong Kong, the Stand By Signal, No. 1, was hoisted at 11:45 A.M. on October 27, when Rita was situated about to the southeast. Since an intense surge of winter monsoon was expected to reach the Southern Chinese coast. The combinations of the effects of Rita and the monsoon were forecast to cause strong winds in Hong Kong overnight. The Strong Wind Signal, No. 3, was hoisted at 4:30 PM although Rita was still situated south-southwest of Hong Kong and was moving west-northwest at towards Hainan. At 5:00 A.M., Shangchuandao reported winds of with gusts of .
Due to the influx of cold and dry air because the winter monsoon, the typhoon weakened rapidly and moved slowly southwestwards away from Hong Kong. during daytime on October 28. The system was closest to Hong Kong at 8:00 A.M. The central pressure was estimated to be about . On October 29, satellites received unveiled that the system became disorganized and the center of the system ill-defined. The monsoon still caused gale-forced winds over the South China Sea even though Rita had moved away from Hong Kong and weakened into a weak tropical storm. A cargo ship, the M.V. Toubkal went aground on the Scarborough Shoal, south-southeast of Hong Kong, and broke in two. Rita continued to weaken and degenerated into an area of low pressure, off the coast of South Vietnam, on October 29.
Preparations and impact
Before approaching the Philippines, flights to Guam were all canceled and U.S. Strategic Air Command evacuated all of its B-52 bombers to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa and naval aircraft were sent to Cubi Point in the Philippines.
While approaching the Philippines, authorities had all aircraft evacuated to Guam and Okinawa. All international flights in and out of Manila Airport were canceled. Philippine Airlines scrubbed all domestic flights and its airplanes were evacuated to the Southern Philippines. Schools and businesses in Manila and most of northern Luzon were closed.