Typhoons

Updated April 19, 2023 | Infoplease Staff

Below is a list of the strongest and deadliest typhoons since 1900.

Typhoons are cyclones that occur over the West Pacific Ocean. Hurricanes and typhoons have identical definitions.

1906

Sept. 18, Hong Kong: typhoon with tsunami killed an estimated 10,000 people.

1934

Sept. 21, Japan: typhoon killed more than 4,000 on Honshu.

1949

Dec. 5, off Korea: typhoon struck fishing fleet; several thousand men reported dead.

1958

Sept. 27, Honshu, Japan: “Vera” left nearly 5,000 dead and 1.5 million homeless.

1959

Aug. 20, Fukien province, China: “Iris” killed 2,334.

1960

June 9, Fukien province, China: “Mary” caused at least 1,600 deaths.

1984

Sept. 2–3, Philippines: “Ike” hit seven major islands, leaving 1,300 dead.

1991

Nov. 5, central Philippines: flash floods from tropical storm “Thelma” killed about 3,000 people. City of Ormoc on Leyte was worst hit.

2003

Sept. 12, South Korea: With winds up to 130 mph, Typhoon Maemi, one of the most powerful typhoons to hit South Korea in a century, kills at least 110 people, disrupts electrical power and communications systems, knocks over ships in the port, and forces the evacuation of thousands from their homes.

2004

Oct. 20, Japan: Typhoon Tokage, the deadliest typhoon to hit Japan in more than two decades, kills at least 80 people as heavy rains flood tens of thousands of houses and trigger numerous landslides. The typhoon produces a record (since 1970) 80 ft (24 m) high wave, eight-stories high.

2007

Aug. 18, Taiwan: Typhoon Sepat, hit Taiwan with winds over 120 mph, cutting power supplies to nearly 57,000 homes, killing over 40 people, injuring 12 more, and forcing more than a thousand others to evacuate.

2008

June 21, the Philippines: a ferry, the Princess of the Stars, is struck by Typhoon Fengshen, killing most of the 865 passengers and crew. There are 59 known survivors. Almost 500 other people die during the storm.

July 28, Taiwan: Typhoon Fung Wong, hit the east central coast of Taiwan with winds over 105 mph, only a week after a tropical storm killed 19 people.

2013

Nov. 8, the Philippines: Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest storms to ever make landfall, hits several islands in the central Philippines. Tacloban, a coastal city with a population of 220,000, is destroyed. According to the Social Welfare and Development Department, Typhoon Haiyan, called Typhoon Yolanda in the Philippines, affects 4.28 million people in at least 270 towns. By November 20, 2013, according to the Philippines National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, the death toll had reached 4,011. Rescue teams continued to search for the 1,602 people who remained missing.