Typhoon Pongsona was the last typhoon of the 2002 Pacific typhoon season, and was the second-costliest United States disaster in 2002 behind Hurricane Lili. The name "Pongsona" was contributed by North Korea for the Pacific tropical cyclone list and is the Korean name for the garden balsam. Pongsona developed out of an area of disturbed weather on December 2, and steadily intensified to reach typhoon status on December 5. On December 8 it passed through Guam and the Northern Marianas Islands while near its peak winds of 175 km/h (110 mph 10-min). It ultimately turned to the northeast, weakened, and became extratropical on December 11. It left the entire island of Guam without power and destroyed about 1,300 houses (damage pictured). With strong building standards and experience from repeated typhoon strikes, there were no fatalities directly related to Pongsona, although there was one indirect death from flying glass. Damage on the island totaled over $700 million (2002 USD), making it among the five costliest typhoons on Guam. The typhoon also caused heavy damage on Rota and elsewhere in the Northern Marianas Islands, and as a result of its impact the name was retired.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Pongsona

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1813:

Creek War: A force of Creeks, belonging to the Red Sticks faction killed hundreds of settlers in Fort Mims in Alabama. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Mims_massacre

1835:

European settlers landing on the north banks of the Yarra River in Southeastern Australia founded the city of Melbourne. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne

1909:

American paleontologist Charles Walcott discovered the Burgess Shale, one of the world's most celebrated fossil fields (Marrella fossil pictured), in the Canadian Rockies in British Columbia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgess_Shale

1959:

The title of National Hero of Indonesia was first given, to the writer-cum-politician Abdul Muis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Hero_of_Indonesia

1995:

Bosnian War: NATO began its bombing campaign against the Army of Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_NATO_bombing_campaign_in_Bosnia_and_Herzegovina

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

leech: 1. (transitive) To apply a leech medicinally, so that it sucks blood from the patient. 2. (transitive) To drain (resources) without giving back. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/leech

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I have not yet lost a feeling of wonder, and of delight, that this delicate motion should reside in all the things around us, revealing itself only to him who looks for it. I remember, in the winter of our first experiments, just seven years ago, looking on snow with new eyes. There the snow lay around my doorstep — great heaps of protons quietly precessing in the earth's magnetic field. To see the world for a moment as something rich and strange is the private reward of many a discovery.   --Edward Mills Purcell https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_Mills_Purcell