 Typhoon Billie was the first typhoon officially monitored by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. The storm brought floods to several East Asian countries in July 1959. Billie developed from a tropical disturbance west of Kiribati on July 12. Situated within favorable conditions, the system quickly reached tropical storm intensity before strengthening further to typhoon status a day after formation. Intensification continued until Billie reached its peak intensity on July 14 east of Taiwan with maximum sustained winds of 165 km / h (105 mph) and a minimum barometric pressure of 970 mbar (hPa; 28.64 inHg). Slight weakening occurred before the typhoon made landfall on Zhejiang in China on July 16. After tracking inland, Billie curved northward and moved over the Yellow Sea before making a final landfall on North Korea on July 17; the storm transitioned into an extratropical cyclone shortly afterwards before dissipating over the Sea of Japan a day later.
