Overall Green Tropical Cyclone for RITA-19
in Vanuatu, Solomon Islands

Event summary

Tropical Cyclone RITA-19 can have a low humanitarian impact based on the maximum sustained wind speed, exposed population and vulnerability.

GDACS ID TC 1000635
Name RITA-19
From - To 24 Nov - 26 Nov
Exposed countries Vanuatu, Solomon Islands
Exposed population No people in Category 1 or higher
Maximum wind speed 130 km/h Category 1
Maximum storm surge 0.1 m (27 Nov 05:00 UTC)
Vulnerability High (Solomon Is.)

GDACS Score

For more info on GDACS alert score click here.
Wind Storm surge Rainfall GDACS score
GDACS JTWC n.a 0.1 m n.a. 0.5
Single TC: maximum expected impact (wind, storm surge, rainfall)
HWRF 176 km/h 0.3 m 559 mm 0.5
GFS 137 km/h 0.5 m 452 mm 0.5
ECMWF 90 km/h 0.4 m 793 mm 0.5
Maximum expected impact (wind, storm surge and rainfall) using different data sources.
Virtual OSOCC
Meteo assessment
Satellite products
Analytical products
Vanuatu - Tropical Cyclone RITA Tue, 26 Nov 2019 11:08

  • Tropical Cyclone RITA formed over the South Pacific Ocean on 21 November and started moving south-southwest offshore toward Vanuatu. On 26 November at 00:00 UTC, its centre was located approximately 230 km north-east of eastern coast of Pentecost Island (central Vanuatu), with maximum sustained winds of 95 km/h (tropical storm).
  • RITA will move south-west on 26 November and will change in west direction on 28 November toward Pentecost Island, slighty weakening.
  • For the next 48 hours heavy rain and strong winds are expected across the provinces of Torba, Sanma, Penama and Malampa. The Vanuatu Meteorology and Geohazards Department (VMGD) has issued a marine strong wind warning for all Vanuatu coastal waters and a high sea warning for northern open waters.
Vanuatu - Tropical Cyclone RITA update (ECHO 27 Nov 2019)Wed, 27 Nov 2019 11:00

  • Tropical Cyclone Rita has weakened to a tropical depression and is moving towards the Penama islands (Vanuatu) over the south-west Pacific Ocean. It is expected to dissipate in the morning of 27 November.
  • The Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo-Hazards Department issued warnings for strong winds over Shefa and Tafea Islands, rough to very rough seas are expected off Vanuatu.
  • Moderate rain is forecast for most of the islands in Vanuatu on 27-28 November.
Detailed event map. European Union, 2026. Map produced by EC-JRC.
The boundaries and the names shown on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the European Union.

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Estimated casualties (PAGER)

USGS estimates the number of casualties for each earthquake for the Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response (PAGER) product.
The graph shows the current fatalities estimate.

Exposed population

Data, images, links, services and documents

For this events, GDACS has links to information from the following sources: EC-JRC (38), DesInventar (1), WMO (1), INFORM (2), (1),