Typhoon Wanda was one of the deadliest typhoons to impact
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, and was the strongest typhoon to impact
Zhejiang
Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...
since
Typhoon Nina in
1953
Events
January
* January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma.
* January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo.
* January 14
** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...
.
Meteorological history
A tropical depression developed southwest of Guam on July 25. It moved north-northeastward, passing east of the Northern Marianas. On July 27, it intensified into a tropical storm and was designated ''Wanda''. On the same day, the storm turned more westward, steered by the subtropical ridge to the north. Low wind shear and warm waters allowed Wanda to intensify steadily, developing into an intense typhoon. On July 30, reconnaissance aircraft recorded a minimum pressure of , and the peak winds were estimated at . After passing through the
Miyako Islands
The (also Miyako Jima group) are a group of islands in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, belonging to the Ryukyu Islands. They are situated between the Okinawa Island and Yaeyama Islands.
In the early 1870s, the population of the islands was estim ...
, Wanda weakened slightly and traversed the East China Sea. On August 1, the typhoon made landfall in eastern China near
Zhoushan
Zhoushan , formerly romanized as Chusan, is an urbanized archipelago with the administrative status of a prefecture-level city in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang. It consists of an archipelago of islands at the southern mouth of H ...
, Zhejiang, producing a pressure of ; this was the lowest pressure recorded in China from a tropical cyclone. Wanda slowly weakened while progressing through China, dissipating on August 5.
Impact
Taipei
Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...
on Taiwan recorded of rainfall over three days while the typhoon would pass to the north. Along the coast of Zhejiang, Wanda produced a storm surge that destroyed 465 seawalls and 902 boats. The storm also flooded crop fields, destroying 20,380 tons of wheat. Across Zhejiang, 2.2 million houses and 38.5% of the main roads were damaged during the storm. Nationwide, Wanda killed 4,935 people and injured 16,617 others.
See also
*
Other tropical cyclones of the same name
References
External links
Digital Typhoon : Typhoon 195606 (WANDA) –
National Institute of Informatics
Typhoons in China
1956 Pacific typhoon season
1956 in China
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