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Hurricane Charley - US & Caribbean
Hurricane Frances - US & Caribbean
Hurricane Ivan - US & Caribbean
Hurricane Jeanne - US & Caribbean
Typhoons - Japan
Earthquake - Japan
Earthquake & tsunami - Indian
Ocean
Other events
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Catastrophe Report 6
July 21, 2004 - February 18, 2005 |
Typhoons - Japan, NW Pacific islands
| Territory: |
|
Japan, NW Pacific islands |
| Region: |
|
Japan (Kyushu, Shikoku, Honshu, Hokkaido),
Mariana Islands |
| Date: |
|
27 August – 7 September, 18 – 31August
and 12 – 20 October |
| Event: |
|
Typhoons |
| Impact: |
|
Typhoon Chaba destroyed 200 homes and damaged
infrastructure in the Northern Mariana Islands. In Kyushu and
Shikoku (Japan), up to 10 cm rain an hour triggered widespread
flooding and landslides, inundating 13,000 homes and necessitating
the evacuation of 35,000 people. Damage to power lines left
a third of a million people without electricity. The death toll
in Japan was 16. Kyushu also bore the brunt of Typhoon Songda,
with wind gusts in excess of 200 kph and precipitation rates
as high as 10 cm/h causing further structural damage, floods
and landslides. More than 46,000 homes were damaged, 1.6 million
people lost power, and Mazda closed its factories in Hiroshima
and Hofu. In Hokkaido, Songda caused considerable damage to
the agricultural and lumber industries. More than 32 deaths
were recorded and close to a thousand injuries. Typhoon Tokage
brought maximum sustained wind speeds of only around 74 kph
at landfall, but gusts of up to 229 kph were recorded locally.
Torrential rains triggered landslides that took close to a hundred
lives, while waves in excess of 9 m caused extensive coastal
damage. Economic losses for Chaba, Songda and Tokage are estimated,
respectively, at US$ 2, 6 and 2.5 billion; with insured losses
set at US$ 0.95, 3 and 1.5 billion. |
| Summary: |
|
Typhoon Chaba struck the Northern Mariana Islands
on 23 August, with winds of 287 kph and a 5.5 m storm surge
causing widespread damage to buildings and power lines and heavy
flooding. The hurricane tracked north-westwards with category
5 strength before weakening and making landfall in Kagoshima
prefecture, Kyushu island, as a category 2 storm on 30 August,
with maximum sustained wind speeds of 160 kph. Chaba continued
into western Honshu and continued to track north-eastwards off
the northern coastline of the archipelago before making a second
landfall near Tomakomai City in Hokkaido on 31 August. Typhoon
Songda followed a similar track, crossing a sparsely populated
part of the Mariana Islands before striking Kyushsu, close to
Nagasaki, on 7 September as a category 2 storm and continuing
on to Hokkaido. Typhoon Tokage was not particularly powerful,
but its very large strong wind footprint – 800 km across
– ensured that it was particularly damaging. Tokage made
landfall as a tropical storm on Shikoku on 20 October and tracked
north-eastwards across Honshu before heading out again into
the Pacific.
|
| Data sources: |
|
Digital Typhoon
http://agora.ex.nii.ac.jp/digital-typhoon/news/2004/index.html.en
Tropical Storm Risk
http://forecast.mssl.ucl.ac.uk/docs/TSRNWP2004Verification.pdf
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| Additional sources:
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Munich Re.
http://www.munichre.com/
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