September 28, 2025: Typhoon Ragasa (Nando) left a trail of destruction across large parts of East and Southeast Asia, with at least 29 confirmed fatalities, over 219 people injured, and nine still missing as of early October 2025. The storm caused more than $100 million (USD) in estimated damages, affecting homes, infrastructure, agriculture, and power networks across several countries. In the Philippines, particularly in Northern Luzon, widespread flooding and landslides devastated rural communities and displaced tens of thousands of residents. As Ragasa moved northward, Taiwan’s Hualien County suffered intense rainfall and mountain slope failures, while Hong Kong and Macau experienced severe winds, rough seas, and coastal flooding. The typhoon’s outer rainbands also reached southern China and parts of Vietnam, bringing heavy rains and transportation disruptions. Regional governments have launched coordinated recovery efforts, highlighting the storm’s far-reaching humanitarian and economic impact.
In late September 2025, the Pacific and East Asia regions witnessed one of the most intense tropical cyclones of the year: Super Typhoon Ragasa, locally known in the Philippines as Typhoon Nando. Originating from a cluster of convection north of Yap, Ragasa evolved into a formidable force, making landfall across multiple territories and leaving behind a trail of destruction from Luzon to Guangdong and beyond. As of now, it stands as the strongest tropical cyclone recorded in 2025, causing extensive damage and resulting in a tragic loss of life across the Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, southern China, and parts of Vietnam.
The birth of Ragasa began on September 16, when the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) identified an area of convection approximately 333 nautical miles north of Yap in the Federated States of Micronesia. On September 17, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) classified the system as a tropical depression, and by that time, the disturbance had entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR), where PAGASA named it Nando. Despite an initially disorganised structure, the system gradually improved, and on September 18, the JMA upgraded it to Tropical Storm Ragasa (the name “Ragasa” meaning “sudden quickening movement” in Filipino).