Typhoon Dianmu

Landfall | Summary
Posting Date: August 12, 2010, 1:25:00 PM

Typhoon Dianmu made landfall in South Korea yesterday about 115 km (70 mi) west of Busan (formerly Pusan) with sustained winds of 75 km/h (45 mph) and gusts of up to 90 km/h (60 mph). In its rapid passage across the southernmost part of the Korean peninsula just north of Busan (the country’s second largest city) Dianmu left five people dead, caused some 130 homes to be flooded, and cancelled many flights in and out of the region. Dianmu is the first typhoon to make landfall in Korea since Typhoon Nari caused significant damage there three years ago. After exiting South Korea, Dianmu crossed the Sea of Japan to make a second landfall on the northern tip of Japan’s main island of Honshu near the city of Akita at about 5:00 pm local time (8:00 UTC) Thursday as a low-level typhoon with winds up to 85 km/h (50 mph). Pounding the land for three hours, the storm crossed into the Pacific south of the island of Hokkaido and soon weakened to tropical depression status. However, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) warned that Dianmu’s heavy rains—expected to be as much as 20 centimeters (eight inches)—could trigger floods and landslides along the Honshu coast, where waves as high as five meters (16 feet) are also expected. According to the JMA, as of about 1:00 am, local time, August 13th, Dianmu was located about 240 kilometers (150 miles) east-southeast of Misawa, Japan, which is on the east coast of the northern tip of Honshu. It is encountering the midlatitude baroclinic zone and undergoing extra-tropical transition. Dianmu will succumb to increasing vertical wind shear and decreasing sea surface temperatures as it completes its transition over the next 12 to 24 hours. Since Dianmu has left Japan and is now over the Pacific Ocean, it is not expected to make landfall again. The AIR tropical cyclone team does not expect significant insured losses in either South Korea or Japan.

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Posting Date: August 12, 2010, 1:25:00 PM