Typhoon Vicki, known in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

as Typhoon Gading, was a moderately strong

typhoon A typhoon is a tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere and which produces sustained hurricane-force winds of at least . This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, accounting for a ...

that was notable for having a rather unusual eastward-northeastward track through the Philippines and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The eleventh tropical depression, seventh named tropical storm and fourth typhoon of the inactive

1998 Pacific typhoon season The 1998 Pacific typhoon season was the least active List of Pacific typhoon seasons, Pacific typhoon season on record, until it was surpassed 2010 Pacific typhoon season, 12 years later. It was also the third-latest starting Pacific typhoon sea ...

, Vicki originated from an area of disturbed weather in the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...

Meteorological history

On September 17, a tropical disturbance formed at

west of

Luzon Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...

. It intensified quickly and was named ''Vicki'', eventually attaining typhoon status a day after it formed. Unusual for a Pacific typhoon, the system moved eastward and crossed Luzon on September 18, bringing squally conditions to most parts of the island. After that, Vicki then moved northeast, and eventually made landfall on September 22 at the

Kii Peninsula The is the largest peninsula on the island of Honshū in Japan and is located within the Kansai region. It is named after the ancient Kii Province. The peninsula has long been a sacred place in Buddhism, Shinto, and Shugendo, and many people wou ...

in Japan.

Impact

In all, 108 people were killed and 10 others were listed as missing.

Philippines

The Typhoon Vicki, while moving eastward through northern Luzon, dropped torrential rainfall, killing 9 people and affecting more than 300,000 people. The ferry ''

MV Princess of the Orient The MV ''Princess of the Orient'' was a passenger ferry owned by Sulpicio Lines that sank off Fortune Island, near the provinces of Cavite and Batangas in the island of Luzon, The Philippines on September 18, 1998. The ship was originally built ...

'' foundered and sank during the storm's onslaught, killing 70 and leaving 80 others missing and presumed dead. The ferry sank near Fortune Island in the Verde Island Passage. The typhoon also destroyed a transmitter which belonged to DWDW 1017; the destruction of the transmitter also signified the end of its broadcasting.

Japan

Vicki continued northeastward and hit southern Japan killing two women in

Nara prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the ...

, damaging Kasuga Grand Shrine in Nara city and the five-storied pagoda at Muro temple, disrupting train and passenger service and cancelling over 60 domestic flights in the country. Insurance claims nationwide reached ¥159.9 billion (US$1.22 billion).

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