1922 Shantou typhoon

Meteorological history

A tropical depression located near the Caroline Islands was first spotted July 27. It moved slowly to the northwest, gradually intensifying along the Philippine Sea. On July 31, it crossed northern Luzon, and entered the northernmost part of the South China Sea. It then intensified more and made landfall on the Chinese coast near the city of Shantou (formerly romanized as Swatow) late on August 2 or early on August 3. It quickly dissipated inland later.

The minimum known central pressure of this typhoon is 27.53 inHg. At one point, the winds were estimated to have a speed exceeding 100 mph.

Impact

Due to the typhoon passing through a then-lightly inhabited part of the Philippines, no reports of significant impact were received.

In Shantou, the typhoon caused a storm surge of at least 12 ft above normal. Shantou was an unfortunate city, as around 5,000 people (out of a population of about 65,000) perished in the storm. Several ships near the coast were totally wrecked. and may have been higher than 100,000.

The 50,000 to 100,000 deaths–100,000+ deaths caused by this typhoon make it one of the deadliest tropical cyclones in the western north Pacific Ocean. The other typhoons with comparable death totals include another typhoon that hit China in 1912 and 1975's Typhoon Nina.

References

References

1. Willis E. Hurd. (August 1922). "North Pacific Ocean". [[Monthly Weather Review]].
2. "July–August 1922". Universidad Complutense Madrid.
3. Rev José Coronas. (August 1922). "The Swatow Typhoon of August, 1922". [[Monthly Weather Review]].
4. "The Selga Chronology Part II: 1901-1934". Universidad Complutense Madrid.
5. (August 1922). "The Swatow Typhoon of August, 1922". [[Monthly Weather Review]].
6. "Notes on weather in the other parts of the world". [[Monthly Weather Review]].
7. "The Ten Worst Hurricanes Worldwide".
8. "The World's Worst Floods".