Another Super-typhoon

A few weeks ago, we wrote about our experience with Typhoon Faxai. It was unusual, as it was both powerful, and its track took it up Tokyo Bay and through the heart of Tokyo.

Well, today it’s deja vu, as we’re seeing Typhoon Hagibis, an even larger and more powerful storm, again coming up Tokyo Bay and into the city. This storm is bringing with it a tremendous amount of rain – the weather people are saying it is a “once in several decades” kind of storm. Hakone (just west of Tokyo at the foot of Mt. Fuji) received more than 35 inches of rain, and there are multiple warnings and evacuation recommendations due to the swollen rivers and landslides in the area.

For us, it has been a mere inconvenience. We’ve had heavy rain and wind, and everything in the city was shut down. Our plans for a flight to Shanghai today got deferred, as virtually all flights from both Narita and Haneda airports were cancelled, and train service – both local and Shinkansen bullet-train – was suspended.

Living on the 30th floor of a modern apartment tower, we don’t have too much concern about flooding. And our part of Tokyo is quite protected by a canal system, so that rain water isn’t as much a flooding concern as in other parts of the city. During the peak wind gusts, we could feel the building swaying. And, at one point, our earthquake apps alarmed, confirming that the swaying we felt was partly due to an intensity 4 earthquake — kind of a strange thing to happen during a typhoon.

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It looks like the typhoon will pass us by late in the evening, and tomorrow the sun will be out and things will start to return to normal. Unfortunately, it’s not going to be so normal for many people. In one area, houses were destroyed by a tornado spawned by the typhoon – a very rare occurrence in Japan. Many others suffered damage from high winds, and from the heavy rains and storm surge.

Typhoon Hagibis will go down in the history books as a record-setting storm, and one that had an impact on thousands of lives. It’s being compared to one in 1958, when more than 1,000 people died. Today’s modern construction, better weather monitoring, and emergency preparedness thankfully prevent that awful outcome.

During our time in Japan, we’ve learned that the Japanese people are quite resilient, and capable of overcoming disasters with an amazing sense of determination. I know we’ll see the same response as people pick up the pieces and rebuild following the historic impact of Typhoon Hagibis.