Typhoon Elsie - Oct 1989

With maximum winds of about 195 km/h near its centre, Typhoon Elsie struck Luzon on 19 October and emerged from the west coast just to the north of Baguio in the evening on a westward track. Its intensity was reduced due to interaction with the mountainous terrain of central Luzon. The weakening trend continued as Elsie made its way across the South China Sea. It became a severe tropical storm the next evening. After passing about 80 km to the north of Xisha early on 21 October, Elsie skirted the south coast of Hainan Island that night. By then, Elsie had degenerated into a tropical storm. It made landfall the following day over the coast of Vietnam about 350 km south-southeast of Hanoi and dissipated rapidly overland.

In the Philippines, 17 people were killed and another 65 were injured during the passage of Elsie. Over 320,000 people were left homeless with at least 5,000 houses destroyed or damaged. Toppled power lines caused disruption in the electricity supply and fallen trees blocked many highways. There were also several reports of damage to marine vessels. The financial loss in crops was estimated to be in the region of US$0.35 million. In Hainan Island, no serious casualties were reported during the passage of Elsie. However, damage due to the successive passages of Brian, Angela, Dan and Elsie amounted to 1,900 million RMB. ([Government of Hong Kong SAR, October 1989] (https://reliefweb.int/node/3433088))