1990 Azkali cyclone
The 1990 Azkali cyclone (usually referred to as the Naharretazakon in Azkali), known as Super Cyclone 116A (Oikan: Uperkuelhuetre 116A) in Sunteria, was a devestating off-season Volic Gulf cyclone that struck Azkali and Sunteria on 12 Agotzo 1990 (27 Snoiguia 3116). It remains the cyclone with the fastest recorded wind speed and lowest barometic pressure on record. It was the deadliest tropical cyclone in recorded history, and greatly exacerbated the at the time ongoing Azkali societal collapse, resulting in one of the most devestating humanitarian disasters in the history of the world. It caused approximately 400,000 deaths, and possibly as much as 750,000. These casualties were almost solely in Azkali, and caused damages there estimated at $440 billion dollars. The 1990 Azkali cyclone was the first cyclonic storm of the 1990 Volic cyclone season.
Meteorological history
On the 24th of Uni, 1990 (Sunterian time), a tropical wave moved from northern Tyrosia northeast into the Volic Gulf. It was monitored by the Ari Island Volunteer Meteorological Center for several days, but was discontinued from being monitored as it failed to produce atmospheric convection. Over the coming days thereafter, however, the tropical wave slowly organized, and on the 3rd of Agotzo, the wave organized into Tropical Depression 1. Despite the wave's organizing, the AIVMC failed to further monitor the storm until the 10th of Agotzo.
Over the next three days, the tropical depression moved nortwest, entering into a zone with anomalously warm water temperatures and little wind shear. By the 6th of Agotzo, the depression had organized further, and began to be monitored by the Sunterian Office of Meteorology (Hedieuž) The same day, Hedieuž categorized the depression as a Severe Tropical Storm. At noon on the 7th of Agotzo, hurricane hunters reported the intensification of the cyclone from a Severe Tropical Storm to a Cyclone, with sustained winds of 95 miles per hour, with recorded gusts of up to 110 miles per hour. A mid-level ridge to the north of the cyclone steered it west along an elongated arcing path, into waters with cooler water temperatures. The cyclone stalled and weakened slightly into a Severe Tropical Storm starting at around 10:00 PM on the 7th.
Around this time, Western Azkali and Kalilonde were experiencing significant amounts of rainfall, on average approximately 3 inches. This rain, perpretrated by an extratropical system that had moved from the Talo sea into Kalilonde and Western Azkali, would be responsible for the later reintensification of the system over Kalilonde.
The next day, the cyclone started again west, into an environment with ocean temperatures exceptionally conductive to explosive intensification. By 4:00 AM on the 8th, it had re-intensified into a cyclone, but was prevented from strengthening that day due to significant wind shear in the cyclone's path. Wind shear gradually dissipated over the day, and by 11:00 PM on the 8th, the cyclone weakened slightly once more to a severe tropical storm, before explosively intensifying into a Super Cyclone, starting at 9:00 AM on the 9th of Agotzo. Hurricane hunters around this time reported the increase of the cyclone's 10 minute sustained wind speed from approximately 85 miles an hour to 200 miles an hour in six hours, an intensification of 115 miles an hour within 6 hours, or approximately an increase of 20 an hour.
In the days before landfall, the cyclone intensified to its record breaking maximum wind speed, an estimated 230 miles an hour. In the hours before it made landfall, it slightly weakened, leaving it's landfall wind speed at a staggering 220 miles an hour.
The cyclone made landfall at 11:40 AM on the 12th of Agotzo, in the village of Hengatzeisu. As it made landfall onto the southern Azkali coast, the cyclone stalled for several days, causing catastrophic rainfall; the maximum recorded being in the village of Ngetetz, a suburb of Retzal, with a record breaking 212 inches of rainfall over thirty-six hours, a world record. The cyclone slowly weakened from a super cyclone to a cyclone, still sustaining winds of over 100 miles an hour until the 16th of Agotzo. On the 17th, the cyclone began to weaken further and headed northwest, reentering the Volic Gulf on the 18th. It curved northwest, quickly intensifying into a Super Cyclone with winds of 160 miles an hour, before making a second landfall at Ichatzoaka. However, before making landfall, the cyclone weakened into a severe tropical storm, and as it made landfall, curved northwest, heading into Kalilonde. The cyclone continued to drop catastrophic levels of rainfall as it stayed over land, and the cyclone even re-intensified into a proper cyclone as it continued into Kalilonde, perpetuated by the massive amount of rainfall that had occured in western Azkali and Kalilonde days before; a textbook example of the Brown ocean effect.
However, starting on the 19th, as it entered into dry land, the cyclone quickly weakened, and by 9:00 AM on the 20th, it transitioned into an extratropical system. The remnants continued to move northwest it was absorbed another extratropical system.
Preparations
There was no preparation for the cyclone as it struck Azkali. The widespread lack of any utilities in the area made it impossible for any news of the cyclone's existence to reach the area from the outside world. The only prior warning that reached the zone where the cyclone made landfall occurred late in the morning on the 11th of Agotzo from the AIVMC, which published a two sentence bulletin severely underestimating the date of landfall and wind speed of the cyclone: "A cyclone has been spotted in the Volic Gulf, which will make landfall approximately late in the evening of the 13th of Agotzo in the South of Azkali. The cyclone's wind speed is estimated at 100 miles an hour, so people there are recommended to prepare several days of supplies in anticipation of this cyclone." By this time, the cyclone was at its maximum estimated wind speed, with ten-minute sustained winds of approximately 230 miles an hour.
Impact
Azkali
Azkali received the supermajority of the recorded deaths from the cyclone - only two hundred and twelve people were recorded having been killed by the cyclone in Sunteria. Contrastingly, slightly more than half of the recorded damage was recorded in Sunteria. The true amount of people killed by the cyclone will never be concretely known, but at least 400,000 were killed, and as many as 750,000 or 800,000. The 1990 Azkali cyclone was possibly the most devastating natural disaster to occur in global history, save the 2001 Volic Gulf earthquake and tsunami.
Southern Azkali
Southern Azkali was the most affected portion of Azkali. The impacts of the cyclone can still be clearly seen in modern times - almost all communities save large cities were destroyed by the cyclone's rain and wind. The meteorological station at Hengatzeisu recorded a maximum wind speed at the time of landfall of 218 miles an hour, with gusts estimated to have been up to 275-300 miles an hour, before its anemometer was blown off. The MS Ari, docked at Hengatzeisu and holding approximately four hundred refugees, was blown out into the sea and was capsized in the gulf. As the storm made landfall, it caused an average of a 12.2 meter storm surge which overtopped almost every building in affected communities. A fourty two meter rogue wave, the tallest ever recorded in global history, completely destroyed the town of Herisour.
The costs of repairs from the cyclone in Azkali will likely never be known, due to the lack of any organization able to record damage at the time. Technically speaking, this means that the costliest Volic Gulf cyclone ever recorded was Cyclone Korru, in 1971.
Radio Atzogui reported that almost three fourths of all who lived between Meithakoli and Atzogui were killed by the storm. Flights over the area after the event showed almost apocalyptic destruction between this area, which was quickly dubbed as the cyclone corridor, a nickname which still persists today.
Western Azkali
Chekearoa
Sunteria
Kalilonde
The storm killed 212 people in Kalilonde.
Pordmisktpelha
The storm killed 17 people in Pordmisktpelha, 8 directly and 9 indirectly. An entire family of four was killed while trying to escape floodwaters in their car. A young woman was killed when winds suddenly shattered a window in her apartment and a shard of glass struck her neck and severed a vein. A teenage boy was killed when winds blew over a bookcase, which fell on him and crushed him. A middle-aged couple was killed when a tree fell on their house while they were sleeping. Five people were killed in a duplex fire sparked by a faulty generator. Three elderly people across the city suffered heart attacks. A disabled elderly man was killed when his oxygen equipment lost power.
Elsewhere
The town of Rekazki was completely destroyed.