Ise-wan typhoon
| Category 5 Typhoon ( SSHWS ) | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Emergence | September 21, 1959 | |
| resolution | September 27, 1959 | |
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Peak wind speed |
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| Lowest air pressure | 895 hPa ( mbar ) | |
| dead | 5098 | |
| Property damage | $ 600 million (1959) | |
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Affected areas |
Japan | |
| Season overview: Pacific typhoon season 1959 |
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The Ise-wan typhoon ( Japanese 伊 勢 湾 台風 , Ise-wan taifū ) was an exceptionally powerful tropical cyclone that hit Japan in September 1959. He was born on September 21 from a low pressure area between Guam and Chuuk and then moved with a top speed of 165 knots (306 km / h) north-northeast until September 26, 18 o'clock Japan at Cape Shionomisaki on the Kii Peninsula reached ; in gusts it reached up to 120 kn (222 km / h) over the mainland near Nagoya . He devastated the Tōkai region and thus also the southern part of the city of Nagoya. The typhoon became the strongest and deadliest typhoon to ever hit the Japanese coast. It cost the lives of over 5,000 people. As a result of floods and landslides, 4,697 people died, 401 remained missing, 38,921 were injured and over 1.5 million were left homeless.
The intensity of the storm caused destruction of unprecedented strength and unimaginable proportions and was a major blow to the Japanese economy, which was still recovering from World War II . In the aftermath of the Ise Wan Typhoon, Japan's disaster control and support systems were decisively reformed. The effects of the typhoon set a benchmark for subsequent storms that struck the country.
designation
It was named Typhoon No. 15 in chronological order in Japan , later named after the Ise Bay (Ise-wan) on the Japanese Pacific coast . Internationally it is known as Taifun Vera .
development
The Ise Wan Typhoon developed between Guam and Chuuk on September 20, initially moving westward before moving on a more northerly course. It reached the strength of a tropical storm in the days that followed . At this point the Ise Wan Typhoon had taken over the more westerly direction of movement and began to densify rapidly. It reached its peak intensity on September 23rd and with the maximum sustained wind speed a strength comparable to today's category 5 hurricanes .
With a small change in strength, the typhoon turned and accelerated northward. He reached the coast at Shionomisaki, Honshu, on September 26th . Atmospheric wind structures meant that the typhoon broke briefly into the Sea of Japan near Toyama , before it turned back eastward and hit Honshu again near the Tōhoku region. The overland movement greatly weakened the Ise Wan Typhoon. After reaching the North Pacific Ocean later that day , it had turned into an extra-tropical cyclone on September 27; these remains continued and persisted for an additional 2 days.
Although Vera was correctly predicted and the route to Japan was well calculated, poor phone coverage combined with a lack of pressure from the Japanese media and the intensity of the storm largely prevented possible evacuations and thus the prevention of major damage. Rainfall from the storm's outer rain line caused flooding in areas around the rivers in addition to the storm's impact on land. In addition, as the storm moved over Honshu, it brought a severe storm surge that destroyed many flood dams and flood defense systems, flooded coastal cities, and sank ships. The hardest hit region of Japan was the areas along the coast of Ise Bay .
There, flooded areas were under water for more than four months and a large number of buildings were destroyed. The total damage from the Ise Wan Typhoon amounts to $ 600 million (adjusted for inflation: $ 4,878 million). The death toll the typhoon is believed to have caused is controversial, although current estimates suggest the typhoon caused at least 4,000 deaths. That makes it the deadliest typhoon in Japanese history.
Relief measures were initiated relatively quickly by the Japanese and American governments. Local epidemics , including dysentery and tetanus , broke out because of the flooding caused by the typhoon . The spread of disease and debris left blocking and slowing ongoing support progress. Because of the unprecedented destruction and deaths that followed the typhoon, the Japanese National Assembly passed legislation to provide more effective aid to affected regions and to defuse future disasters. This included the passage of the Disaster Countermeasures Act 1961, which set standards for Japanese disaster relief, including the establishment of a Central Disaster Prevention Council.
Meteorological history
The origin of the Ise Wan typhoon can be traced back to a diffuse low pressure area , first recorded in weather analyzes of surfaces on early September 20th. At that point the fault was between Guam and Chuuk. Although the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) did not classify the initial system as a tropical cyclone, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) analyzed the fault as a tropical depression as early as 0000 UTC that day.
The low-pressure area initially migrated westwards and temporarily shifted to a more northerly course on September 21. Later in the day, a reconnaissance plane dispatched by the JTWC to analyze the malfunction failed to reach the center due to an engine failure. The data that had been collected from the outskirts of the storm was sufficient for the warning center at 1800 UTC on that day to classify the disturbance as a tropical storm . Despite the flight data, the JMA had already stipulated six hours earlier that the system must have the intensity of at least one tropical storm. As a result of the reclassification, the tropical storm was christened "Vera" by the JTWC. At this point the tropical cyclone began to turn on a more westerly course.
Early on September 22nd, an aircraft location survey located the Ise Wan Typhoon 175 km north-north-east of Saipan . During the course during the day, the periodic reconnaissance flights into the storm showed that "Vera" was beginning to intensify rapidly. Later that day, at 1800 UTC, data analysis concluded that the tropical cyclone had reached typhoon intensity. The rapid intensification continued in the following days, when the maximum of the sustained winds and the air pressure rose and fell correspondingly quickly. At the same time, the size of the typhoon grew to a point where it extended for 250 km. The next day, at 0600 UTC, the Ise Wan typhoon reached its lowest estimated air pressure of 895 mbar ( hPa ). This indicated a pressure drop of 75 mbar (hPa; 2.22 inHg) in the previous 24 hours. By the time the pressure reached the minimum, the typhoon had likely reached winds equivalent to Category 5 - the highest classification possible on the modern Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale .
The typhoon's winds continued to rise before peaking at 1200 UTC on September 23, when a reconnaissance aircraft reported steady maximum wind speeds of 305 km / h. When these top speeds were reached, the Ise Wan Typhoon was 645 km northeast of Guam. The ability of the cyclone to intensify quickly has been attributed to beneficial atmospheric deviations and high water surface temperature .
The Ise Wan Typhoon only maintained peak intensity for roughly twelve hours, but was still a powerful tropical cyclone. With only tiny changes in force, the typhoon moved northwest on September 24th. Due to the influence of a nearby high pressure area , it gradually began to turn and accelerated rapidly northwards towards Japan. The Ise Wan typhoon hit land for the first time on September 26 at 0900 UTC - west of Shionomisaki on Honshu . At this point in time the typhoon had a maximum of uninterrupted wind speeds of 260 km / h and an air pressure of 920 mbar (hPa; 27.17 inHg).
The typhoon crossed the Japanese Islands fairly quickly at a speed of 61 km / h and re-entered the Japanese Sea at 1530 UTC that day. Despite his short time on land, the terrain weakened him. Following a westerly wind current, the Ise Wan Typhoon was driven eastward, resulting in a second land impact near Sakata on Honshu, with about the intensity of a Category 1 hurricane. The typhoon re-entered the North Pacific very late on September 26th . He was severely weakened from advection of cold air in addition to constant contact with land. On September 27 at 0600 UTC, the JTWC analyzed that the typhoon had weakened to the intensity of a tropical storm. The warning center stopped periodically monitoring the system when the Ise Wan typhoon turned into an extra-tropical cyclone. The JMA downgraded the system to an extra-tropical storm at 1200 UTC that day. The extratropical remains persisted for the next two days, moving eastward, before the JMA last recorded the storm on September 29 at 1200 UTC.
Effects
Although well predicted and tracked throughout, the effects of the typhoon were extremely disastrous and long-lasting. In addition to the intensity of the storm, the severe destruction and high death toll were partly due to a lack of urgency by the Japanese media before the Ise Wan typhoon hit land. Although estimates put more than $ 261 million in damage (adjusted for inflation $ 2,122 million), other estimates say damage totaled $ 600 million (adjusted for inflation $ 4,878 million). The death toll also remained unclear, but reports generally suggest that around 5,000 people were killed and there were hundreds of people missing.
In addition to the many dead, there were nearly 40,000 injured. 1.6 million people were left homeless. Around 834,000 homes were destroyed across the country and around 210,000 hectares of agricultural land were damaged.
The damage caused to the Ise Wan Typhoon, made him the deadliest typhoon in Japanese history, below the Muroto Typhoon of 1934. The Ise-Wan Typhoon was it the third-deadliest natural disaster in Japan in the 20th century, only surpassed from the 1995 Kobe earthquake and the 1923 Great Kanto earthquake .
In addition to the impact of the typhoon on land, there was previously heavy rainfall over the Tōkai (region) of Japan, beginning on September 23, when the storm peaked over open water. In Nagoya , the rains reached 10 cm. In other parts of the Tōkai region, nearly 20 cm has been reported. The heavy rainfall caused flooding of various rivers in the area affected by the rain. Persistent rains also occurred during Vera's Honshu crossing, but the worst of the rain-induced floods occurred just after the typhoon first hit land. In Kawakami , a landslide killed 60 people by burying 12 houses.
Most of the damage related to the Ise Wan Typhoon was a result of the highly destructive storm surge . On the coast, the intensity of the typhoon led to a large wave that flooded the lower coastal regions. In Ise Bay , the height of the storm surge was much greater because of the curvature of the coastline and the shallow depth of the bay, which allowed the water to simply rush down the length of the bay towards the coast.
In addition, the storm passed the area at high tide . Water levels began to rise before the storm hit land and peaked during the typhoon's first overburden over Honshu. The highest storm surge was measured in the port of Nagoya , where the water level rose to 3.9 m above normal. The strong storm surge engulfed or simply broke the earth dikes and other flood protection measures in the Ise Bay.
The coastal dikes, however, remained partially unfinished and were severely affected by the Ise Wan storm surge. Only newly installed flood reduction systems in the southern part of the bay were able to withstand the wave force. In the open sea, the waves sank 25 fishing boats, thousands of other ships ran aground or were considered missing.
In total, damage was reported to 7576 boats. In addition to the ships destroyed, numerous oyster rafts were lost and losses totaled US $ 6 million. 75 million individual pearl oysters also fell victim to the waves, causing another $ 10 million in damage.
"Bloated bodies — human and cattle — float in muddy, brown floodwaters that enveloped 95 percent of Nagashima when Typhoon Vera turned the rivers into raging killers."
"Bloated bodies - people and cattle - float in the muddy, brown flood water that trapped 95% of Nagashima when Typhoon Vera turned the rivers into frenzied killers."
The resulting flooding, which was caused by the storm surge of the Ise Wan typhoon, flooded areas around the bay for a long time; some lower lying areas remained under water for more than four months. Due to the failure of several flood mitigation systems in quick succession, coupled with the tight telecommunications coverage exacerbated by the strong winds of the typhoon, many people in affected regions only had a very short time to evacuate. Nagoya was one of the worst hit cities; as a result of severe storm surges and storm winds, Nagoya's port was shut down in less than three hours. The effects of the typhoon storm surge there were also exacerbated by the destruction of timber storage facilities in Nagoya Harbor, detaching large numbers of logs, wreaking havoc on the buildings.
The tearing away of the logs also hampered the relief efforts that followed the typhoon. Throughout the city, 50,000 apartments were severely damaged by the flood and 1,800 other apartments were washed from their foundations. The total damage to the crop was estimated at $ 30 million. Rice fields in particular suffered severe damage, in which 135,000 tons of rice were lost. In addition to the crop damage, fruit worth $ 2.5 million and vegetables worth $ 4 million were lost.
The collapse of a single apartment building in the city buried 84 people under the rubble; A similar incident occurred in Naka , where around 300 people were buried under rubble. Beach houses were destroyed and large strips of nearby fields were badly damaged. In addition to the storm surge, Nagoya experienced sustained winds of around 145 km / h with gusts reaching up to 260 km / h, tearing down power lines and causing blackouts . In southeastern Nagoya, Handa , around 300 people were killed after a wave devoured more than 250 houses. The number of deaths in Aichi Prefecture totaled 3,168 and around 59,000 people were injured based on a bullet made in March 1960.
On the west side of Ise Bay , in Mie Prefecture , 1,233 people were killed and around 5,500 others were injured. About 95% of Nagashima was flooded. The nearby Kuwuna suffered a similar fate when 80% of the entire city were flooded. 58 people were killed there and 900 others were displaced. The cities of Kamezaki and Kamiyoshi were wiped out by the floods. Further inland, in Nagano Prefecture , the strong winds covered numerous house roofs. The US Air Force's Tachikawa landing site near Tokyo suffered significant damage from the typhoon, with amounts exceeding US $ 1 million.
aftermath
For the immediate aftermath of the typhoon, the Japanese government set up a disaster headquarters in Tokyo and allocated resources and aid to affected areas. The government also established the Japanese Central Disaster Management Agency in Nagoya. Due to the high estimated cost of damage from the typhoon, the Japanese Parliament was forced to introduce a supplementary budget to cover the losses. Starting on September 29th, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces began to participate in the relief effort. U.S. Forces Lieutenant General Robert Whitney Burns ordered all available soldiers stationed in Japan to participate in the post-typhoon relief effort. The aircraft carrier USS Kearsarge (CV-33) was sent to Nagoya to support relief efforts there.
In Nagoya, the floods had contaminated drinking water, which drastically reduced access to clean drinking water. Despite rapid hygiene and disinfection measures, diseases broke out in parts of the city. Over 170 cases of dysentery have been reported, along with other cases of gangrene and tetanus . In addition to the water shortage, food was also rationed in response to the food shortages caused by the Ise Wan typhoon. This led to hunger problems for the affected population.
The consequence of breakthroughs in the flood protection systems around the Ise Bay was that the lake water continued to flow into the flooded areas after the Ise Wan typhoon had passed, which slowed down the repair work and made it more difficult. A breakthrough measured 150 km and required 5,000 men, 32,000 sandbags and bulldozers sent by the Japanese Ministry of Defense to minimize the inflow of water. In Aichi, in the Ama district, the reconstruction work on the dikes, roads and infrastructure lasted until the end of December 1959.
Due to continued losses in the pearl industry from the typhoon, Japan's pearl production was expected to decline by 30% in 1959 and threatened with production losses of around 40% in 1960. The financial losses from this industry were expected to exceed $ 15 million and Japanese pearl prices were expected to rise 20%. It was also expected that the effects on Japan's pearl industry would continue for another two to three years.
Disaster Relief and Mitigation Reforms
The unprecedented destruction by the typhoon prompted the Japanese parliament to pass laws so that the burden on regions affected by future disasters can be relieved more quickly and aid can be provided more efficiently. In October 1959, an extraordinary session of parliament approved several measures, coordinated by various government ministries, which provide support for the people affected by the Ise Wan typhoon and other natural disasters in Japan in August and September of that year.
Probably the most sustained piece of legislation enacted as a result of the Ise Wan Typhoon was the 1961 passage of the Basic Disaster Countermeasures Act, widely regarded as "the cornerstone of Japan's Disaster Risk Reduction Legislation." The law established the Central Disaster Protection Council, which has the task of coordinating the risk reduction of disasters. The legislation also mandated an annual disaster prevention plan to be submitted annually to the Japanese Parliament. The law also established September 1st as a national disaster risk reduction day.
In addition to the legal reforms, the ruptures of the coastal flood protection systems during the typhoon resulted in a redesign of these mechanisms. In Nagoya, regulations were designed for coastal protection and elevations. The development of flood protection in Ise, Osaka and Tokyo Bay was also set in motion. The level of such defense systems was based on the "worst-case scenario" and on the maximum levels of the storm surge caused by the Ise Wan typhoon.
Web links
- An eyewitness report (English)
- Joint Typhoon Warning Center (English)
- Japan Meteorological Center (English)
- Shot of the Ise Wan Typhoon - Nagoya City, published in 1960.
- Ise-Wan Typhoon - Facts and Details (English)
See also
- Hurricane Katrina - wreaked havoc on the levees in greater New Orleans along the US Gulf Coast
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hirokazu Tatano: Natural Catastrophe Risk Management Policy in Japan. Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University 2005
- ↑ a b c Typhoon Isewan (Vera) And Its Lessons ( Memento of the original dated November 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Japan Water Forum, November 2005
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Tilden, Charles E. 1959 Annual Typhoon Report Joint Typhoon Warning Center, accessed January 1, 2014
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j 1959 VERA (1959263N11160), International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship ( Memento of the original dated January 2, 2014) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , National Climatic Data Center, University of North Carolina at Asheville, accessed January 1, 2014
- ↑ a b c d Japan Meteorological Agency Best Track Database , National Climatic Data Center, Japan Meteorological Agency, accessed January 1, 2014
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Donovan, Matthew; Grossi, Patricia 1959 Super Typhoon Vera: 50-Year Retrospective ( Memento of the original from January 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , 2009 Risk Management Solutions, Inc., accessed January 1, 2014
- ↑ a b Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service, National Hurricane Center, accessed January 2, 2014
- ↑ a b c d e f Oda, Hideaki: Typhoon Isewan (Vera) And Its Lessons (PDF) ( Memento of the original from November 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Japan Water Forum, accessed January 2, 2014
- ↑ EMDAT Disaster List ( Memento of the original from February 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters, Emergency Events Database 2009, accessed January 2, 2014
- ↑ a b c d e KITAMOTO Asanobu: Typhoon 195915 (VERA) Digital Typhoon, National Institute of Informatics, accessed on January 2, 2014
- ↑ a b c James Cary: Typhoon Vera Officially Japan's Worst Storm In: The Florence Times, September 30, 1959 (Volume 100, Issue 183), p. 4, accessed January 2, 2014
- ↑ a b KITAMOTO Asanobu: Typhoon Damage List Digital Typhoon, National Institute of Informatics, accessed on January 2, 2014
- ↑ 5-Year Scar Left By Typhoon Vera , In: Milwaukee Sentinel, October 12, 1959, p. 6, accessed January 3, 2014
- ↑ a b c Death Toll 1544 in Typhoon Vera In: The Spokesman Review of September 29, 1959; P. 3, Volume 77, Issue 138; Reuters Agency, accessed January 2, 2014
- ↑ a b Typhoon Vera Will Boost Pearl Prices , In: Schenectady Gazette, February 8, 1960; P. 14, Volume 66, Issue 112; United Press International, accessed January 2, 2014
- ↑ Volume 69, Issue 276; Associated Press
- ^ Fear 2,500 Dead In Japan , In: The Lewiston Daily, September 28, 1959; Pp. 1 + 12, volume 67; Sun, Associated Press, accessed January 2, 2014
- ^ Typhoon Vera May Prove Worst Japanese Disaster , In: Spartanburg Herald-Journal of September 27, 1959; S. A-5, Volume 69, Issue 42; Associated Press, accessed January 2, 2014
- ↑ Japan Counts 1,710 Dead in Wake of Typhoon Vera . In: The Ludington Daily News, September 29, 1959, Volume 69, Issue 276, accessed January 3, 2014
- ↑ 2600 Dead, Missing As Typhoon Slashes Disaster Upon Japan . In: Lodi News-Sentinel, September 28, 1959, page 1, accessed January 3, 2014
- ↑ a b Typhoon Vera Slashes Japan . In: Sarasota Herald-Tribune, September 28, 1959 (Volume 34, Issue 358, Page 1), accessed January 2, 2014
