Asia: Typhoon Talim strikes Japan
Source: Asia Insurance Review | Oct 2017
Asia China Japan Nat CAT
Another major typhoon hit northern Asia last month. Typhoon Talim made landfall in Kagoshima Prefecture on the southern tip of Kyushu Island, Japan, on 17 Sept with maximum sustained winds at 111 km/h (79 mph)—the equivalent of a weak Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, said catastrophe modeling firm AIR Worldwide. It maintained its intensity as it traveled northward across Shikoku, Japan’s main island of Honshu, and Hokkaido through 19 Sept.
“Talim formed to the southeast of Guam and the Mariana Islands on September 8,” said Dr Anna Trevino, senior scientist at AIR Worldwide. “It then traveled northeastward across the Philippian Sea toward Taiwan over the next week, intensifying along its path. Having never touched Taiwan, the storm turned northwestward to cross the East China Sea in about two days. It weakened slightly before making landfall on Kyushu Island on September 17. Talim has since traversed all of Japan’s larger islands – Shikoku, Japan’s main island of Honshu, and Hokkaido – while maintaining its intensity. It exited the northern tip of Hokkaido by Monday evening local time and continued its journey northwestward onto Russia’s Sakhalin Island.”
In advance of the storm, 200,000 were evacuated from China’s Fujian and Zhejiang provinces due to high surf, where the tide was reportedly raised more than 30 feet.
Authorities have issued warnings for heavy rain, high seas, flooding, and possible landslides due to Talim’s maintained strength as it crossed Japan. A