Typhoon Ida, known in the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

as Makurazaki Typhoon ( 枕崎台風), was a powerful and deadly

typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

which hit

in 1945, causing over 2000 deaths.

Overview

Ida made landfall near Makurazaki in

Kagoshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,599,779 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 9,187 km2 (3,547 sq mi). Kagoshima Prefecture borders Kumamoto P ...

on September 17. Ida was the strongest typhoon to hit

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...

on record, with a minimum sea-level pressure of 916.1 hPa (27.05

inHg Inch of mercury (inHg and ″Hg) is a non- SI unit of measurement for pressure. It is used for barometric pressure in weather reports, refrigeration and aviation in the United States. It is the pressure exerted by a column of mercury in hei ...

) and a maximum wind gust of , which was recorded at a weather station in Makurazaki. This reading makes the storm responsible for the second lowest pressure ever recorded in mainland Japan, after the 1934 Muroto typhoon. More than 2,000 people were killed in the

Hiroshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Hiroshima Prefecture has a population of 2,811,410 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 8,479 km² (3,274 sq mi). Hiroshima Prefecture borders Okayama Prefecture to the ...

after heavy rains brought by a weakening Ida caused severe landslides. The storm occurred just days after Japan surrendered after the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vas ...

, and the damage caused by Ida worsened the situation. In addition,

USS Repose (AH-16) USS ''Repose'' (AH-16) was a in service with the United States Navy, active from May 1945 to January 1950, from October 1950 to December 1954, and from October 1965 to May 1970. After another five years in reserve, she was sold for scrap in 1975. ...

reportedly entered Ida's eye and observed an atmospheric pressure of 25.55 inches of mercury (about 865 hPa). This is below the Typhoon Tip (870 hPa) in 1979, the official world record for minimum sea level pressure.

References

History of Kagoshima Prefecture History of Hiroshima Prefecture 1945 in Japan Typhoons in Japan 1940s Pacific typhoon seasons {{tropical-cyclone-stub