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/