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Tropical Cyclone Gita formed on 9 February and quickly intensified into a powerful storm moving through the southern Pacific ocean. On 12 February the storm made landfall on the island of Tonga with winds in excess of 145 mph, or equivalent to a category 4 storm in the Atlantic. NASA is helping to support a request from the World Bank with preliminary damage assessment.
For the latest on Tropical Storm Gita visit the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC): http://www.usno.navy.mil/JTWC/