After forming just east of the central Philippines, Tropical Storm Xangsane, which means "elephant" in Lao, intensified into a typhoon and battered the central Philippines with high winds and heavy rains on the 27th and 28th of September 2006. At least 110 people were reported killed with many still missing as a result of flooding and mudslides brought on by the storm. After passing through the Philippines and out into the South China Sea, Xangsane headed for the central coast of Vietnam where it made landfall on the 1st of October causing widespread damage and flooding. At least 59 people were reported to have died there as a result.

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite (known as TRMM) was placed into service in November of 1997. From its low-earth orbit, TRMM has been measuring rainfall over the global Tropics using a combination of passive microwave and active radar sensors. The TRMM-based, near-real time Multi- satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center monitors rainfall over the global Tropics. MPA rainfall totals due to Xangsane are shown here for the period 25 September to 2 October 2006 for southeast Asia. Storm symbols mark Xangsane's path. Rainfall totals of over a foot are shown over Samar in the east central Philippines (red areas). A broad area of 4 to 8 inch totals (green) stretch from the central Philippines to the coast of Vietnam.

TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Images produced by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) and caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC).