page_title: Typhoon Maemi
section_title: Japan
hierarchical_section_title: Typhoon Maemi / Impact / Japan
caption_attribution_description: The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this true-color image of Typhoon Maemi after it passed over Japan’s Okinawan Islands on September 11, 2003. Even though its sustained wind speed had dropped to 123 miles per hour, Typhoon Maemi was the strongest typhoon to hit the islands in 30 years, according Japan’s Central Meteorological Agency. News reports claimed that one person died and at least 94 others were injured in the storm. The hardest hit island was Miyakojima, 1145 miles southwest of Tokyo. Typhoon Maemi was moving north towards the Korean peninsula at about 7 miles per hour when this image was taken. Maemi is the Korean name for a cicada that legend says chirps madly to warn of a coming typhoon.
context_page_description: Typhoon Maemi, known in the Philippines as Typhoon Pogi, was the most powerful typhoon to strike South Korea since record-keeping began in the country in 1904. Maemi formed on September 4, 2003 from a disturbance in a monsoon trough in the western Pacific Ocean. It slowly intensified into Tropical Storm Maemi while moving northwestward, becoming a typhoon on September 8. That day, favorable conditions facilitated more rapid strengthening; the storm developed a well-defined eye and reached peak maximum sustained winds of 195 km/h. While near peak intensity, Maemi decelerated and began turning to the north-northeast. Soon after, the eyewall passed over the Japanese island of Miyako-jima on September 10 and produced an air pressure reading of 912 mbar, the fourth-lowest recorded in the nation. Due to warm waters, Maemi was able to maintain much of its intensity before it made landfall just west of Busan, South Korea, on September 12. The typhoon became extratropical in the Sea of Japan the next day, although its remnants persisted for several days, lashing northern Japan with strong winds.
  The typhoon first affected the Ryukyu Islands of Japan.
context_section_description: Typhoon Maemi first affected the Japanese island of Miyako-jima, where gusts reached 266 km/h (166 mph), and sustained winds reached 152 km/h (94 mph). For 16 hours, excluding the 2–hour passage of the eye, the pressure fell to 912 mbar (26.9 inHg), the second-lowest on record on the island after Typhoon Sarah in 1959, and at the time the fourth lowest in all of Japan. The typhoon produced heavy rainfall on Miyako-jima totaling 470 mm (19 in), of which 402.5 mm (15.85 in) fell in 24 hours, breaking the daily record. Also on the island, 58.5 mm (2.30 in) fell in one hour, and 22 mm (0.87 in) fell in just 10 minutes. On the island, Maemi damaged 104 buildings, including two severely damaged houses. The storm damaged roads in 36 locations and caused a power outage, affecting about 20,900 people, or 95% of the island. One person on Miyako-jima died after being struck by flying glass.
  News agencies considered Maemi the strongest typhoon to affect Okinawa since 1968. Elsewhere in Okinawa Prefecture, wind gusts reached 109 km/h (69 mph) in Nago. On Ishigaki Island, strong winds damaged houses and crops, while high tides flooded low-lying buildings. Across the region, 94 people were injured, mostly from broken glass.
  Shortly before Maemi made its final landfall, it produced wind gusts of 167 km/h (104 mph) at Izuhara, a Japanese island halfway between South Korea and Japan. Along the southwest coast of Japan, a weather station in Hirado reported gusts of 113 km/h (70 mph). The typhoon resulted in heavy rainfall on the Japanese main island of Kyushu, reaching 457 mm (18.0 in) at a station in Miyazaki Prefecture. Rainfall-induced landslides in Nagasaki forced 191 people to evacuate their homes. Heavy rainfall also caused landslides in Ōita Prefecture, and Kōchi Prefecture, where several roads were closed. The threat of the storm caused schools to close in Yamaguchi Prefecture. The storm spawned an F1 tornado in Kōchi that damaged several houses and flipped over a car, injuring a woman inside. As an extratropical storm, Maemi left 2,500 people in Hokkaido without power after producing gusts of 108 km/h (67 mph) in Hakodate. Wind gusts reached 116 km/h (72 mph) in Akita, the third-highest September wind gust at the station. A falling tree in Sapporo killed one person and injured two others. High waves damaged fisheries and 54 ships in Matsumae alone, and nationwide 262 ships were damaged. Rough seas also killed one person in Akita Prefecture. The typhoon destroyed 1,498 homes across the country and flooded 363 others. The storm also damaged 9 ha (22 acres) of fields. In total, Maemi killed three people and injured 107 in Japan, two severely. Overall damage totaled ¥11.3 billion (JPY, $96 million USD).
caption: Typhoon Maemi over Ryukyu Islands on September 11
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