© The Weather ChannelThe highest cloud tops, corresponding to the most vigorous convection, are shown in the dark red and purple colors.
Typhoon Haimi bore down on the Philippines Tuesday, with the country's northern island of Luzon bracing for strong winds and heavy rainfall that could trigger landslides in the mountainous region, forecasts say.
The storm is expected to become a super typhoon -- with winds over 150 mph (240 kph) -- in the next 12 to 24 hours and make landfall Wednesday night.
It's currently the equivalent of Category 4 hurricane -- the second-most powerful in the ranking. "Since this storm is very strong where, or if, it makes landfall in the Philippines will be very important.
The area around the center will have extreme damage from the winds as well as a significant storm surge," said CNN Meteorologist Taylor Ward. Haimi is then expected to veer northwest and hit the Chinese coast by Friday evening.
"Current projections take the storm into eastern Guangdong Province, to the east of Hong Kong, but we will keep a close eye on Hong Kong in the coming days as some models take the storm fairly close," said Ward.
Comment: To find out more about how sinkholes are formed and the dramatic increase we've observed recently, see: Sinkholes: The groundbreaking truth.
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