Typhoon Nina, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Bebeng, was an extremely deadly

tropical cyclone A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...

in the summer of 1975. It formed on July 30 and gradually intensified as it moved generally to the west. On August 2, Nina reached peak intensity, and a day later the typhoon struck

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. It weakened before moving ashore southeastern China. While moving slowly through central China, it dropped heavy rainfall and caused several dam failures, including the Banqiao Dam. It is one of the deadliest typhoons in the Pacific. Flooding from the Banqiao Dam collapse killed 26,000 people, with 100,000 more dying from subsequent famine and diseases.

Meteorological history

A well defined trough line extending southeastward into the Philippine Sea spawned a disturbance on July 29. After its initial status as a disturbance, Tropical Depression 04W was designated and moved southwestward for 36 hours as the structure of the system began to organize. On July 31, the depression slowed and began to rapidly intensify, becoming a tropical storm and was named "Nina". It began to turn to the northwest afterward. A subtropical ridge prevented Nina from turning further north and it began to track west-northwest just before reaching typhoon intensity. Nina underwent explosive development in the late hours of August 1. Aircraft reconnaissance reported a 65 hPa drop of pressure, with winds increasing from a mere the day after. During that period, it attained its peak intensity of . The typhoon began to weaken as it approached

, making landfall near the coastal city of Hualien as a Category 3 storm with winds. The storm began to weaken as it went across the island's central mountain range, sparing the most populated areas from the eyewall. It entered the Formosa Straits as a weak typhoon, making another landfall near Jinjiang,

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

. After moving northwest and crossing

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, it turned north on the night of August 5 near Changde,

Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...

. A day later, the storm moved over

Xinyang Xinyang ( zh, s= , t=信陽 , p=Xìnyáng; Postal romanization, postal: Sinyang) is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Henan province of China, province, People's Republic of China, the southernmost administrative division in the province. It ...

Henan Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...

, and was later blocked by a cold front near Zhumadian,

for three days. The stationary thunderstorm system brought heavy rainfall, causing the infamous collapse of the Banqiao Dam. The storm moved southwest on August 8, and dissipated soon afterwards.

Impact

Taiwan

Upon making landfall in Taiwan, the storm brought winds of to places near the storm's eye. Wind gusts were also measured up to . Widespread heavy rainfall, peaking around , from the storm triggered deadly flooding and landslides which killed 29 people and injured 168 others. Reports from the island indicate that 3,000 homes were damaged or destroyed by the typhoon. In the city of Hualien alone, four people were killed, 561 homes were destroyed, and 1,831 more homes were damaged. Across the island, domestic flights, trains, and bus services were all suspended due to the storm; however, Taipei Songshan Airport remained open for international flights.

China

Due to the interaction with the mountains of Taiwan, Nina weakened to a tropical storm before making landfall in China. The storm crossed the coastline with winds of ; however, little damage resulted near where the system struck land. Further inland, the remnants of the storm produced widespread torrential rainfall, with more than falling across an area of . The heaviest rainfall was recorded along the Banqiao Dam where of rain fell, of which fell in a six-hour span. These rains led to the collapse of the Banqiao Dam, which received 1-in-2000-year flood conditions. In all, 62 dams failed during the disaster, causing large temporary

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

s and billion (equivalent to $billion in ) in damage. The floods killed 26,000 people, while another 100,000 people died from subsequent famine and disease. Some online sources suggest a higher total death toll of 230,000.

References

External links

Nina 1975 best track data

Joint Typhoon Warning Center

* ttp://ams.confex.com/ams/27Hurricanes/techprogram/paper_107755.htm 27th Conference on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology {{DEFAULTSORT:Nina (1975) 1975 Pacific typhoon season Typhoons in Taiwan Typhoons in China Typhoon Nina July 1975 in Asia August 1975 in Asia