evolution

There’s a lot of action in Japan today: Typhoon Tokage produces record eight-story wave in Japan (AFP).

Typhoon Tokage produced the biggest wave ever recorded in Japan as its [sic] rampaged across the country this week, claiming nearly 80 lives, the government said.

The 24-meter-high (80-foot) wave, the size of an eight-story building, was monitored off the port of Muroto on the southern island of Shikoku on Wednesday, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said.

It was the highest wave recorded in the country since the ministry started monitoring wave heights in 1970.

The previous record was 20 meters in a wave monitored off Miyazaki on the southern island of Kyushu when another typhoon roared by in August.

The ministry said that the average height of waves monitored in a 20-minute period as the typhoon struck on Wednesday was 13.55 meters (45 feet). The waves were recorded by an underwater monitoring point about 1.5 kilometers (one mile) offshore.

Towering waves crushed a sea wall and 14 houses at Muroto, some 600 kilometers (375 miles) southwest of Tokyo, killing three people there.

The National Police Agency said late Saturday that 79 people had been confirmed dead from the typhoon with 12 others missing and 299 injured.

This is well south of where my brother is living. Earthquakes to the north, typhoons to the south — hopefully the Tokyo area will be spared.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 23rd, 2004 at 20:36 and is filed under random. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.