Historic Super Typhoon Haiyan Assaults Philippines  

Climate Central has an article on the "super typhoon" hitting the Philippines - Historic Super Typhoon Haiyan Assaults Philippines.

For the past 24 hours, the storm has remained at a strength close to the theoretical upper limit that cyclones can reach. Unlike in the tropical North Atlantic, there is no aircraft reconnaissance of tropical storms and typhoons in the Western Pacific, so the actual wind speeds and minimum central air pressure — two key parameters used to classify such storms — are being estimated using satellites.

Storm surge forecasts from the Philippines’ Project NOAH indicate a maximum storm tide (storm surge plus the tide level) of 16.4 feet at Ormoc in Leyte Province on November 8, with 14-16 foot storm tides occurring in the provinces of Palawan, Quezon, Biliran, and others. The storm tide forecast for Manila is 5 feet, but the city is so low-lying that flooding may still occur there.

Sea level rise from global warming is escalating the risk posed by storm surges across the globe, including in low-lying areas of the Philippines.