Why Super Typhoon Haiyan was so deadly
https://phys.org/news/2018-11-super-typhoon-haiyan-deadly.html
With gusts exceeding 305 kilometres (190 miles) per hour at first landfall, Haiyan was the strongest ever to hit land at the time. Typhoons more commonly reach peak velocity while still travelling over oceans.
The powerful front drove a giant wall of seawater called a storm surge, estimated to be 7.5 metres (24.6 feet) high, into coastal towns like Tacloban, a city of 240,000 people.