• Typhoon Kajiki killed at least three people and injured 10 others in Vietnam, authorities said as they warned that heavy rains could cause flooding and landslides.

• The storm damaged nearly 7,000 homes, inundated 28,800 hectares of rice plantings and felled 18,000 trees, the government said on August 26. 

• Streets in the capital Hanoi were severely flooded. Tens of thousands of residents were evacuated from coastal areas in Vietnam.

• After making landfall on Vietnam’s north central coast on August 25, Kajiki has since weakened into a tropical depression as it moved across to Laos on August 26.

• Vietnam suffered $3.3 billion in economic losses in September 2024 as a result of Typhoon Yagi, which swept across the country's north and caused hundreds of fatalities.

What is the difference between a typhoon, hurricane and cyclone?

• The terms hurricane and typhoon are regional names for tropical cyclones. 

• All tropical cyclones are alike in that they draw heat from warm water at the ocean’s surface to power horizontal, rotating wind. 

• Although similar in size, tropical cyclones have a different energy source than synoptic cyclones, which are storm systems that draw their energy from weather fronts and jet streams.

• In the North Atlantic, central North Pacific, and eastern North Pacific, the term hurricane is used. 

• The same type of disturbance in the Northwest Pacific is called a typhoon. 

• Meanwhile, in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean, the generic term tropical cyclone is used.

• The ingredients for tropical cyclones include a pre-existing weather disturbance, warm tropical oceans, moisture, and relatively light winds. If the right conditions persist long enough, they can combine to produce the violent winds, large waves, torrential rains, and floods we associate with this phenomenon.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)