Typhoon Higos

Landfall | Summary
Posting Date: October 1, 2002, 11:00:00 AM

As of 8:00 a.m. EDT, Tuesday, October 1, Typhoon Higos was located over land near Tokyo, Japan and moving to the north-northeast at about 38 mph (61 kph). Current estimates put the typhoon's maximum sustained wind speed at 75 to 89 mph (121-143 km/h) with higher gusts. Higos made landfall at about 8:00 p.m. local time, striking Yokosuka, some 45 miles west of Tokyo, and passing over Kawasaki. Higos is continuing to move north across the main island of Honshu and is heading for Hokkaido Island. Higos was a Saffir-Simpson Category 4 typhoon, with sustained winds of up to 135 mph (217 km/h), on Saturday, September 28. But by landfall the storm had been downgraded to a Category 1 with winds averaging 80 mph (129 kph). Domestic and international flights were cancelled due to high winds, power was interrupted, and preliminary reports indicate that at least three houses lost their roofs. It is still in the early aftermath of landfall, however, and damage reports will undoubtedly continue to come in. Heavy rains have led to flooding in Tokyo and to the threat of landslides and crop damage in rural areas. Using the most recent information about the meteorological parameters of this storm, the AIR tropical cyclone modeling team has run simulations representing a variety of assumptions about the storm's actual intensity at landfall. The resulting scenarios and loss estimates are available to all clients on the Scenarios page of this web site. Note that losses are denominated in Japanese Yen. Also note that the loss estimates are from wind damage only; they do not include losses due to flooding. Clients may download event sets representing the full range of simulations.

Landfall | Downloads
Posting Date: October 1, 2002, 11:00:00 AM