Severe Tropical Storm Brendan, also known in the Philippines as Tropical Storm Helming, was a third consecutive tropical cyclone to strike China in July 1991. A weak surface circulation developed near

Carolina Islands The Caroline Islands (or the Carolines) are a widely scattered archipelago of tiny islands in the western Pacific Ocean, to the north of New Guinea. Politically, they are divided between the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) in the cen ...

in July 15. Tracking west-northwestward, the circulation organized into a tropical depression in July 19. The tropical depression intensified into Tropical Storm Brendan in July 21 when the depression approached

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. Brendan quickly intensified to reach the first peak intensity of when it made landfall in

Luzon Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...

, Philippines. After emerging in

Luzon Strait The Luzon Strait (Tagalog: ''Kipot ng Luzon'', ) is the strait between Luzon and Taiwan. The strait thereby connects the Philippine Sea to the South China Sea in the western Pacific Ocean. This body of water is an important strait for shipp ...

as a strong tropical storm and continued to track west-northwestward, Brendan reached the secondary peak intensity of in July 23, before making landfall on

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, southwest of

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

in July 24. After making landfall, Brendan weakened and dissipated later that day. Across the Philippines, heavy rain associated with Brendan combined with volcanic debris from

Mount Pinatubo Mount Pinatubo is an active stratovolcano in the Zambales Mountains in Luzon in the Philippines. Located on the tripoint of Zambales, Tarlac and Pampanga provinces, most people were unaware of its eruptive history before the pre-eruption volc ...

raised

mudflows A mudflow, also known as mudslide or mud flow, is a form of mass wasting involving fast-moving flow of debris and dirt that has become liquified by the addition of water. Such flows can move at speeds ranging from 3 meters/minute to 5 meters/se ...

up to high around the vicinity of volcano. Around 10,000 people were forced to evacuate and approximately 1400 houses were destroyed by the rising mudflow. Four deaths are recorded in the country. In

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, Brendan caused 17 injuries. These people were hit by glass pieces and objects that were blown away by the storm. Overall damages across Hong Kong was estimated to be

HK$ The Hong Kong dollar (, sign: HK$; code: HKD) is the official currency of Hong Kong. It is divided into 100 cents. Historically, it was also divided into 1000 mils. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is the monetary authority of Hong Kong an ...

0.94 million, mostly from public utilities. In

, severe flooding are reported in low-lying areas. Two fishermen from China reported missing southwest of Macau after the storm capsized their boats. In

, the storm killed two people and injured four others. 64 houses were destroyed and 1,019 others were damaged. More than of farmland were affected. Total losses were estimated to be ¥1.32 billion (

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

247 million). In

Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...

, the storm killed 28 people and injured 189 others. About 2,100 houses were destroyed and 16,000 others are damaged. More than of farmland were flooded. Total losses were estimated to be ¥25 million ($4.68 million).

Meteorological history

Tropical Storm Brendan developed from a weak surface circulation which developed south-southwest of Chuuk in

on July 15. The circulation would track west-northwest for several days until it reached an area of increased upper-level divergence in the central

Philippine Sea The Philippine Sea is a List of seas#Marginal seas by ocean, marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean, Western Pacific Ocean east of the list of islands of the Philippines, Philippine Archipelago (hence the name) and the List of seas#Largest seas ...

on July 19, leading JTWC to issue

Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert A Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert (TCFA) is a bulletin released by the U.S. Navy-operated Joint Typhoon Warning Center in Honolulu, Hawaii or the Fleet Weather Center in Norfolk, Virginia, warning of the possibility of a tropical cyclone formi ...

at 18:00

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

, when the system was located approximately east of

Samar Samar ( ) is the third-largest and seventh-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 1,909,537 as of the 2020 census. It is located in the eastern Visayas, which are in the central Philippines. The island is divided in ...

. Around the same time, JMA upgraded the system into a tropical depression. However, due to diurnal fluctuations that affected the system's

convection Convection is single or Multiphase flow, multiphase fluid flow that occurs Spontaneous process, spontaneously through the combined effects of material property heterogeneity and body forces on a fluid, most commonly density and gravity (see buoy ...

, JTWC reissued the TCFA at 18:00 UTC on August 20, 1991. Later that morning,

satellite imagery Satellite images (also Earth observation imagery, spaceborne photography, or simply satellite photo) are images of Earth collected by imaging satellites operated by governments and businesses around the world. Satellite imaging companies sell im ...

showed significant organization within the system. Coupled with a low shear environment and warm

sea surface temperature Sea surface temperature (or ocean surface temperature) is the ocean temperature, temperature of ocean water close to the surface. The exact meaning of ''surface'' varies in the literature and in practice. It is usually between and below the sea ...

s, JTWC declared the system a tropical depression in the 00:00 UTC of August 21. As the depression continued to develop six hours later, based on a Dvorak intensity estimate of T2.5/, the JTWC upgraded the tropical depression into a tropical storm and was given the

name A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A person ...

''Brendan''. JMA also upgraded the depression into a tropical storm at the same time.

Impacts

Philippines

Across the Philippines, heavy rain associated with Brendan combined with volcanic debris from

raised

up to high around the vicinity of volcano. Around 10,000 people were forced to evacuate and approximately 1400 houses were destroyed by the rising mudflow. Four deaths are recorded in the country.

Hong Kong

, Brendan caused 17 injuries. These people were hit by glass pieces and objects that were blown away by the storm. Overall damages across Hong Kong was estimated to be

0.94 million, mostly from public utilities.

Macau

, severe flooding are reported in low-lying areas. Two fishermen from China reported missing southwest of Macau after the storm capsized their boats.

Mainland China