Typhoon Usagi

Final Posting | Summary
Posting Date: August 2, 2007, 1:30:00 PM

On Thursday, August 2, 2007, Typhoon Usagi—the fifth named storm of this year's western Pacific cyclone season—battered the southern Japanese island of Kyushu, injuring several people, canceling 140 flights, and cutting power to 28,000 households in Kyushu and neighboring Shikoku. Usagi's winds have reportedly damaged cladding and scattered roof tiles across the affected region. Heavy rain associated with the storm intensified upon landfall, and up to 14 inches of precipitation are expected in some areas of southeastern Japan, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. Thousands of people have been advised to evacuate in advance of more flooding to come. The typhoon, which had strengthened to Category 4 status in its northwest track toward Kyushu, weakened to a Category 2 typhoon before making landfall at 09:00 GMT. The storm brought 168 km/h maximum sustained winds and gusts of 200 km/h. Usagi is currently moving north-northwest at 32 km/h and forecasters predict it will recurve to the northeast, weakening to a tropical storm in the Sea of Japan before striking northern Japan on the weekend. Usagi is the second major storm to strike Japan in less than a month, following Typhoon Man-yi in July. Typhoon Usagi's track resembles that of Typhoon Anita, which struck western Shikoku in 1970 with an accompanying storm surge of 7.7 feet. Heavy precipitation associated with Anita flooded inland sections of the island. Like Usagi, Anita's intensification rate was slow to start, but then rapidly increased, strengthening to a 249 km/h super typhoon before weakening and making landfall with winds closer to 185 km/h. The AIR tropical cyclone team has run the Japan typhoon model using the storm’s actual track and information about Usagi’s meteorological parameters. Scenarios are now posted on the scenarios page of this website, where clients can view wind speed and loss maps. In addition, event sets are now available for download. Note that the estimates are provided in Japanese Yen.

Final Posting | Downloads
Posting Date: August 2, 2007, 1:30:00 PM