Typhoon Lorna
{{Short description|Pacific typhoon in 1954}}
{{infobox weather event
| image = Typhoon Lorna surface weather analysis.png
| caption = Surface weather analysis of Typhoon Lorna on September 17
| formed = {{start date|1954|9|10}}
| extratropical = {{start date|1954|9|18}}
| dissipated = {{end date|1954|9|22}}
}}{{infobox weather event/JMA
| winds =
| pressure = 950
}}{{infobox weather event/JTWC
| winds = 100
| pressure =
| basin = wpac
}}{{infobox weather event/Effects
| year = 1954
| fatalities = 34 total
| missing = 20
| damage = 300000000
| damage-prefix = >
| damage-suffix =
(shared with Typhoon June)
| areas = Northern Mariana Islands • Japan
| refs =
}}{{infobox weather event/Footer
| season = 1954 Pacific typhoon season
}}
Typhoon Lorna was a strong Category 3 typhoon that severely impacted some areas of Honshu Island, especially Yokohama and Tokyo while also causing damages across the Northern Mariana Islands. The second typhoon to hit Japan after Typhoon June in September, it is the eleventh system to be monitored by the FWC (now-Joint Typhoon Warning Center) during the 1954 Pacific typhoon season. The storm was first tracked by the JMA on September 10, before the FWC followed suit on the next day. After intensifying into a tropical storm by the latter time, it struggled to strengthen further until it intensified into a modern-day Category 1 typhoon on the Saffir–Simpson scale. It then passed just north of the Marianas around September 13, before turning northwestwards on the next day. It then continued to strengthen into a Category 2 typhoon at the morning of September 15 before becoming a Category 3 system on the afternoon of that day. It remained in this strength before it degraded below that status around the next day. On September 17, Lorna was seized by a frontal system, forcing it to move north-northeastwards and make landfall over the Boso Peninsula on the next day. Its eye reportedly passed through Yokohama at that day. It then rapidly degenerated into an extratropical system as it pulled away from Japan, being last monitored by the JMA on September 22.
By September 17, meteorologists of Japan first noticed the threat of Lorna, alerting Tokyo about tropical-storm force winds as Lorna travels towards the country. Many boats and vessels were also warned about the weakening storm, with some of them being asked to leave the harbours. Some of this marine vessels were also advised about the storm via radio equipment. Six houses were pounded by Lorna on Saipan Island, while many establishments there sustained damages. No deaths were registered there. As the typhoon impacted Japan, it caused flooding that left minor damages in Tokyo Bay. Many farmlands were inundated by the typhoon's rainfall, as well as houses. Several highways, railways and public bridges were destroyed while many marine vessels also sank. Two American ships were also caught up with the storm. First estimates of damages were over tens of millions of dollars. Overall, over 422 households and 126 boats sustained damages while over 43,000 were flooded. 34 Japanese were killed by Lorna while 20 were confirmed to have been missing. Along with June, the typhoon incurred over $300 million worth of damages.
Meteorological history
{{storm path|Lorna 1954 track.png}}
Lorna was first tracked by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) as a {{convert|1006|mbar|inHg}} system at 06:00 UTC of September 10, northeast of Guam. Early the next day, the Fleet Weather Central (FWC) started to monitor the storm's progress, indicating that it intensified into a minimal tropical storm at this time while traveling westwards. Only brief strengthening happened as now-Lorna inclined west-southwestwards and north-northwestwards by September 12 before intensifying into a modern-day Category 1 typhoon by 18:00 UTC of the next day as it dived southwestwards. The typhoon also started to threaten the northern Mariana Islands at this time. However, it took a westward movement, passing just to the territory's north while maintaining its strength of {{convert|70|knot}}. After bypassing the islands, around the afternoon of September 14 it turned north-northwestwards before intensifying further into a Category 2 storm around September 15 at 06:00 UTC and into a Category 3 major typhoon six hours later. Lorna then peaked with winds of {{convert|100|knots}} and a central estimated pressure of {{convert|950|mbar|inHg}}.{{cite web|title=Typhoon Lorna (11W) Best Track|url=https://www.usno.navy.mil/NOOC/nmfc-ph/RSS/jtwc/best_tracks/1954/1954s-bwp/bwp111954.txt|publisher=Joint Typhoon Warning Center|accessdate=January 6, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180925181925/https://www.usno.navy.mil/NOOC/nmfc-ph/RSS/jtwc/best_tracks/1954/1954s-bwp/bwp111954.txt|archive-date=September 25, 2018|url-status=dead}}{{cite web |url=http://www.jma.go.jp/jma/jma-eng/jma-center/rsmc-hp-pub-eg/Besttracks/bst5159.txt |title=RSMC Best Track Data (Text) |date=1951–1959 |publisher=Japan Meteorological Agency |accessdate=January 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120322110127/http://www.jma.go.jp/jma/jma-eng/jma-center/rsmc-hp-pub-eg/Besttracks/bst5159.txt |archive-date=March 22, 2012 |url-status=dead }}
Maintaining its intensity as it continued to move just west of the Philippines, it started to weaken at 06:00 UTC of September 16, being downgraded into a Category 2 typhoon; however its central pressure remained at its initial peak estimate. On the same time on the next day, Lorna further weakened into a high-end Category 1 storm as it again inclined near north-northwestwards. Around September 17, Lorna was captured by a frontal system of an extratropical cyclone that was situated over present-day Russia; this caused the system to move north-northeastwards, passing to the south-southeast of the Japanese island of Shikoku before making landfall over the Bōsō Peninsula around September 18. Shortly after Lorna hit land, the weathermen of the United States noted that the typhoon is already becoming an extratropical low as it moved again over the Pacific Ocean. It then moved northeastwards until the FWC stopped tracking the system around 12:00 UTC of September 19; the JMA continued monitoring Lorna until on September 22.
Effects
Six households on Saipan Island were wrecked by the storm there. It also damaged some buildings managed by the United States Base there. However, no deaths were reported there. Starting on September 17, Japanese weathermen forecasted Lorna to slam the island of Honshu, after it briefly threatened Kyushu and Okinawa. These areas were earlier impacted by Typhoon June in the season. Japan's capital Tokyo, were also warned about the storm's possible gale-force winds striking the area.{{cite news|date=September 17, 1954|title=Lorna Aims at Honshu|page=1|newspaper=Pacific Stars and Stripes, Tokyo-Yokohama Edition|location=Tokyo, Japan|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-17-1954-2923010/|url-status=live|access-date=January 3, 2021|archive-date=January 5, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105083118/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-17-1954-2923010/}}{{free access}} Reports from Kyodo News indicated that all ships and vessels were already warned about the approaching storm by that day, being instructed by port managing individuals there to leave the harbors at Yokohama, while some were informed via radio about Lorna. Individuals over USS General M. M. Patrick and USS Admiral W. S. Benson were also reported to have been “riding out” the storm.{{cite news|date=September 18, 1954|title=400-Mile Japan Braces For Weakening Typhoon|page=1,6|newspaper=Pacific Stars and Stripes, Tokyo-Yokohama Edition|location=Tokyo, Japan|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-18-1954-2923027/|url-status=live|access-date=January 3, 2021|archive-date=January 5, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105083125/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-18-1954-2923027/}}{{free access}}
- [https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-18-1954-2923027/ p. 1]
- [https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-18-1954-2923047/ p.6] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105083120/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-18-1954-2923047/ |date=2022-01-05 }}
Heavy rains first lashed the southern portions of Japan as Lorna turned northwestwards upon hitting land.{{cite news|date=September 18, 1954|title=Typhoon Headed For Industrial Heart of Japan|page=1|newspaper=New Castle News|location=New Castle, Pennsylvania|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-18-1954-2927327/|url-status=live|access-date=January 5, 2021|archive-date=January 5, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105083119/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-18-1954-2927327/}}{{free access}} By September 17, the area of Tokyo Bay were reported to have been flooded, but it receded by the next day. Only minor damages were caused there. Winds of {{convert|58|mph}} were registered over Yokohama as the eye of the typhoon passed there over the midnight of September 18. Tokyo also experienced the brunt of the system. The Japanese National Police first recorded a death toll of 13 and 10 missing, along with over 30 suffering different types of injuries. Many houses across the affected portion of the country were also inundated by Lorna's rainfall, along with rice crops and lands. 16 small vessels also sunk on the onslaught of the storm, along with 33 sustaining damages. Many public roadways, bridges and rail tracks were also washed out by the subsequent flooding. However, on the military bases of the United States Forces, no damages were sustained due to Lorna.{{cite news|date=September 19, 1954|title=Lorna Hits Yokohama|page=1,15|newspaper=Pacific Stars and Stripes, Tokyo-Yokohama Edition|location=Tokyo, Japan|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-19-1954-2927347/|url-status=live|access-date=January 5, 2021|archive-date=January 5, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105083125/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-19-1954-2927347/}}{{free access}}
- [https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-19-1954-2927347/ p. 1]
- [https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-19-1954-2927370/ p. 15] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105083120/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-19-1954-2927370/ |date=2022-01-05 }} By the next day, the casualty toll rose to 27 on Honshu, and 8 were reportedly missing.{{cite news|date=September 20, 1954|title=Lorna Kills 27 on Honshu|page=1|newspaper=Pacific Stars and Stripes, Tokyo-Yokohama Edition|location=Tokyo, Japan|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-20-1954-2927382/|url-status=live|access-date=January 5, 2021|archive-date=January 5, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105083126/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-20-1954-2927382/}}{{free access}} First damage estimates also rain in "tens of millions of dollars" in the country.{{cite news|date=September 20, 1954|title=Typhoon Churns Into Pacific After Smashing Across Japan|page=12|newspaper=Lubbock Morning Avalanche|location=Lubbock, Texas|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-20-1954-2927399/|url-status=live|access-date=January 5, 2021|archive-date=January 5, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105083125/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-20-1954-2927399/}}{{free access}} On September 21, Lorna's death count further rose to 34 and 20 were to be unaccounted for. Almost 300 households and {{convert|150,000|ha}} of cropland were also damaged.{{cite news|date=September 21, 1954|title=Another typhoon hits Japan|page=2|newspaper=Burnie Advocate|location=Burnie, Tasmania, Australia|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-21-1954-2927405/|url-status=live|access-date=January 5, 2021|archive-date=January 5, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105083117/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-21-1954-2927405/}}{{free access}} This number was finally materialized by the Japan Meteorological Agency in its disaster report about the storm, adding that 422 homes were damages and 43,762 of them were flooded. 126 marine vessels also received damages from Lorna, along with {{convert|66645|ha}} of farmland. Along with the earlier Typhoon June, Lorna caused over $300 million in damages.{{Cite web|title=Digital Typhoon: Typhoon 195414 (LORNA) - Disaster Information|url=http://agora.ex.nii.ac.jp/cgi-bin/dt/dsummary.pl?id=195414&basin=wnp&lang=en|url-status=live|access-date=January 5, 2022|website=Japan Meteorological Agency|archive-date=May 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210503072034/http://agora.ex.nii.ac.jp/cgi-bin/dt/dsummary.pl?id=195414&basin=wnp&lang=en}}{{cite news|date=September 25, 1954|title=Typhoon Marie Is Threat To Japan|page=6|newspaper=Coshocton Tribune|location=Coshocton, Ohio|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-25-1954-2899986/|access-date=January 5, 2022|url-status=live|archive-date=January 1, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220101113029/https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-25-1954-2899986/}}{{free access}}
See also
References
{{reflist|2}}