Field surveys and numerical modeling of the August 2016 Typhoon Lionrock along the northeastern coast of Japan: the first typhoon making landfall in Tohoku region

Typhoon Lionrock, also known as the national number 1610 in Japan, caused severe flooding in east Japan in August 28-31, 2016, leaving a death toll of 22. With a maximum sustained wind speed of similar to 220 km/h from the Joint Typhoon Warning Center's best track, Lionrock was classified as a category 4 hurricane in Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale and as a typhoon in Japan Meteorological Agency's scale. Lionrock was among unique typhoons as it started its landfall from north of Japan. Here, we studied the characteristics of this typhoon through tide gauge data analysis, field surveys and numerical modeling. Tide gauge analysis showed that the surges generated by Lionrock were in the ranges of 15-55 cm with surge duration of 0.8-3.1 days. Our field surveys revealed that the damage to coastal communities/structures was moderate although it caused severe flooding inland. We measured a maximum coastal wave runup of 4.3 m in Iwaisaki. Such a runup was smaller than that generated by other category 4 typhoons hitting Japan in the past. Our numerical model was able to reproduce the storm surge generated by the 2016 Typhoon Lionrock. This validated numerical model can be used in the future for typhoon-hazard studies along the coast of northeastern Japan. Despite relatively small surge/wave runups in coastal areas, Lionrock's death toll was more than that of some other category 4 typhoons. We attribute this to various primary (e.g., flooding, surges, waves, strong winds) and secondary (e.g., landslides, coastal erosions, debris flows, wind-blown debris) mechanisms and their combinations and interactions that contribute to damage/death during a typhoon event.

Automated summary

Typhoon Lionrock hit east Japan from August 28-31, 2016, causing severe flooding and leaving 22 people dead. Despite moderate damage to coastal communities, it caused severe flooding inland. The death toll of Lionrock was higher than some other category 4 typhoons, possibly due to a combination of various mechanisms during the typhoon event.