Tonga

Tropical cyclone GITA recently battered and drenched first Samoa and then Tonga as it passed close to both island groups. GITA was a tropical storm with winds of about 40 kts (46 mph) when it passed to the south of Samoa but still caused widespread destruction and flooding. The president of the United States approved a disaster declaration for Samoa. The tropical cyclone's winds had increased to about 125 kts (144 mph) when it battered Tonga as the equivalent of a category four hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. Destructive winds were the main cause of destruction but heavy

Tropical cyclone IAN meandered in an area of the Pacific Ocean between Fiji and Tonga as it intensified from tropical storm intensity with winds of 35kts (~41 mph) on January 5, 2014 to a deadly tropical cyclone with winds of 125kts (~144 mph) on January 11, 2014. Tropical cyclone IAN caused extensive damage and an unknown number of deaths when it passed through Tonga at the peak of it's intensity. The TRMM satellite provided excellent coverage of IAN with multiple passes directly above the tropical cyclone. Rainfall data collected by TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR)