Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), which struck the Philippines on November 8, 2013, is considered one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded. Tacloban City was among the hardest-hit areas because a massive storm surge reaching up to 5–7 meters swept across coastal communities, destroying thousands of homes in minutes. The surge was so powerful that many residents initially mistook it for a tsunami. Yolanda resulted in an official death toll of more than 6,300 people across the Philippines with