Typhoon Vera: Japan's Deadliest Storm on Record

In September 1959, a storm struck Japan with winds equivalent to a modern Category 5 hurricane, and by nearly every measure, it remains the most destructive typhoon in the country's recorded history. Typhoon Vera, known in Japan as the Isewan Typhoon, killed roughly 5,000 people and permanently changed how the entire nation prepares for disaster.

A Storm That Intensified With Extraordinary Speed

Vera formed near Guam in mid-September 1959 and strengthened at a startling pace. Within about 24 hours of being classified a tropical storm, it had already reached typhoon strength, and its intensification only accelerated from there. At its peak, reconnaissance aircraft recorded sustained winds of roughly 190 mph, with the storm's central pressure dropping 75 millibars in a single 24-hour period, a rate of strengthening that ranks among the most extreme ever recorded for a tropical cyclone.

Vera held that peak intensity for only about half a day before beginning a slow weakening trend, but it remained an extraordinarily powerful storm as it curved north and accelerated toward Japan. It made landfall on the main island of Honshu on September 26, 1959, with sustained winds still estimated at around 160 mph, a strength equivalent to a strong Category 5 hurricane at landfall, the only typhoon on record to strike Japan at that intensity.