4 cyclones in South Pacific simultaneously: The biggest, Super-Cyclone Pam, is South Pacific's strongest ever

© NASA

Three powerful tropical cyclones bearing down on Australia and Vanuatu: Olwyn (left), Nathan (center), and Pam (right) were seen by MODIS on NASA’s Aqua satellite at 2:20 Universal Time on March 13, 2015.

The strongest tropical cyclone on record in the South Pacific, Tropical Cyclone Pam, a Category 5 super storm, hit Vanuatu last night causing deaths and destruction. This morning Pam had a central pressure as low as 899hPa and was gusting up to 335km per hour at its centre.

It is one of four cyclones unusually affecting the South Pacific at the same time.

The Vanuatu Meteorological Services warned very destructive hurricane-force winds of 250 kilometres per hour continued to affect the country's southern provinces this morning. It said the central pressure of the system was estimated at 900 hectopascals, which is among the strongest tropical cyclones on record.

Furthermore, at 8:00 am today, Saturday, the Fiji Meteorological Service reported that Severe Tropical Cyclone Pam (Category 5) was located about 890km West of Nadi.

," Fiji Met stated.

Vanuatu

The full impact of Pam on Vanuatu today is unknown as communications in the worst hit areas are not restored, but early reports state dozens of deaths.

NASA's Goddard Space Centre has released images today of Cyclone Pam taken shortly before it struck the island of Efate, which is home to Vanuatu's capital city, Port Vila.

Cyclone Pam was heading in a southwesterly direction when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite acquired this image at 1:30 p.m. local time on March 13, 2015.

"," NASA's Earth Observatory website reported.

Nathan, Olwyn and Bavi

Cyclone Pam was heading southwest when NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this image at 1:30 p.m. local time (2:20 Universal Time) on March 13, 2015, shortly before the storm struck the island of Efate, and Vanuatu’s capital city, Port Vila.

Pam is one of four cyclones currently affecting the region.

On the same day, another major tropical cyclone, Category 3 Olwyn, made landfall in Western Australia near the city of Carnarvon and captured on NASA's Terra satellite. Thousands of people in Carnarvon lost power as a result of the storm, which weakened as it pushed inland.

Nathan has been circling the coast of Queensland, Australia, the last few days, but is expected to dissipate over the course of Friday.

A mosaic image compiled by NASA shows three storms - Pam, Nathan, and Olwyn - swirling near the continent on March 11, 2015. The mosaic is based on data collected during three orbital passes of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on Suomi NPP.

A fourth storm, Bavi, is in the Pacific Ocean well north of Pam, and not shown on the image.

After Vanuatu, Pam is expected to head toward northern New Zealand.

According to Wikipedia, on the available records, a total of 70 tropical cyclones attained a pressure of less than 900 hPa (mbar) (26.56 inHg), most of which occurred in the Western North Pacific Ocean. The strongest tropical cyclone recorded worldwide, as measured by minimum central pressure, was Typhoon Tip, which reached a pressure of 870 hPa (25.69 inHg) on October 12, 1979.

The most intense tropical cyclone in the South Pacific was Cyclone Zoe, which formed in 2002, and was also the most intense storm in the Southern Hemisphere.

However, by 10-minute sustained wind speed, the strongest tropical cyclone in the South Pacific is Cyclone Pam.