Typhoon Ida, known in the Japan as Makurazaki Typhoon ( 枕崎台風), was a powerful and deadly

typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

which hit Japan in 1945, causing over 2000 deaths.

Overview

Ida made landfall near

Makurazaki is a city located in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The city was founded on September 1, 1949. As of April 2017, the city has an estimated population of 21,960 and a population density of 290 persons per km². The total area is 74.88 km². ...

in Kagoshima Prefecture on September 17. Ida was the strongest typhoon to hit

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

on record, with a minimum sea-level pressure of 916.1 hPa (27.05

inHg Inch of mercury (inHg and ″Hg) is a non- SI unit of measurement for pressure. It is used for barometric pressure in weather reports, refrigeration and aviation in the United States. It is the pressure exerted by a column of mercury in heigh ...

) and a maximum wind gust of , which was recorded at a weather station in Makurazaki. This reading makes the storm responsible for the second lowest pressure ever recorded in mainland Japan, after the

1934 Muroto typhoon In September 1934, a violent typhoon caused tremendous devastation in Japan, leaving more than 3,000 people dead in its wake. Dubbed the , the system was first identified on September 13 over the western Federated States of Microne ...

. More than 2,000 people were killed in the

Hiroshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Hiroshima Prefecture has a population of 2,811,410 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 8,479 km² (3,274 sq mi). Hiroshima Prefecture borders Okayama Prefecture to the ...

after heavy rains brought by a weakening Ida caused severe landslides. The storm occurred just days after Japan surrendered after the Pacific War, and the damage caused by Ida worsened the situation. In addition, USS Repose (AH-16) reportedly entered Ida's eye and observed an atmospheric pressure of 25.55 inches of mercury (about 865 hPa). This is below the

Typhoon Tip Typhoon Tip, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Warling, was the largest and most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded. The forty-third tropical depression, nineteenth tropical storm, twelfth typhoon, and third super typhoon of the 1979 Paci ...

(870 hPa) in 1979, the official world record for minimum sea level pressure.

References

History of Kagoshima Prefecture History of Hiroshima Prefecture 1945 in Japan Typhoons in Japan 1940s Pacific typhoon seasons {{tropical-cyclone-stub