Super Typhoon Sinlaku hits Chuuk Lagoon: over 34,000 affected and about 4,200 displaced. Death toll reported as 1, 4, 5 or 7.
What happened
Sinlaku passed through Chuuk State as a super typhoon, damaging more than 2,900 houses and over 27 schools and contaminating water on 9 of the 16 lagoon islands. Death counts differ: the UN’s first report said 7, WHO reported 5 confirmed and 1 missing, and a later US weather service count reported by PINA put 4 deaths in Chuuk. The final toll has not been confirmed.
Why it matters
PINA reports that only Chata’an in 2002 killed more people in Micronesia in recent decades.
Related image
Not a photograph of this event itself; the caption says what it shows.
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Tropical Storm Sinlaku strengthening in the western Pacific on 10 April 2026, imaged by the MODIS instrument on the Aqua satellite. Brightness and contrast were adjusted by the uploader to show the storm’s structure. Detail.
MODIS imagery from the Aqua satellite, NASA Worldview, via Wikimedia Commons.
Public domain (NASA imagery; Commons tag PD-USGov-NASA) Source record
