There are two monster storms on the planet right now. Hurricane Florence, which is approaching the eastern United States and Super Typhoon Mangkhut which is heading towards the northern Philippines and may also hit Hong Kong.

Florence has weakened a little to a Category 3 storm which is somewhat positive as talk yesterday and the day before was that it might hit Category 5. While climbing to Category 5 cannot be ruled out it looks more likely to keep the strength it has now until it makes landfall. Some estimates show a storm surge of 4 metres slamming the eastern United States (this is on top of the usual high tide and big waves) along with damaging winds and rainfall totals over 500mm. It’s the rain that could be the biggest issue with latest updates on what Florence may do after making landfall looking much more concerning for a major flood event in both North and South Carolina.

Meanwhile Super Typhoon Mangkhut is on track to swipe the northern Philippines and then heads on towards Hong Kong. At this stage 10 million people lie in the path of the major storm. The Super Typhoon currently has winds *averaging* 290km/h. The storm may dump over 300mm in the Philippines and leads to mudslides and flash flooding. It will then track towards Hong Kong, hopefully just south of the major city, and could bring damaging winds and flooding there early next week.

FLORENCE:

MANGKHUT:

– WeatherWatch.co.nz with graphics from our partners at CNN International and The Weather Company/IBM