I. Foreword
The war ended 25 years ago, people’s memories have faded, and the people I worked with are scattered across Japan. I have the following reasons for daring to write a record of those days.
1. Describing the plight of a local meteorological observatory around the end of the war will be instructive when dealing with meteorological data and will be a source of information about the conditions under which wartime meteorological work was carried out.
2. The Makurazaki Typhoon (September 17, 1945), which inflicted damage of such rare magnitude that a total of 3,066 people were killed, missing, or injured in Hiroshima Prefecture alone due to a combination of adverse factors, should be reported here as a lesson for disaster prevention.
I have used the logbooks kept at the Hiroshima Regional Meteorological Observatory as the main source of information, reproducing necessary events over time, and supplementing them with various survey reports, newspaper articles, government records, and personal recollections to aid understanding. I hope you will forgive me if I have included some incomplete information. Names of personnel have also been omitted, except where necessary, for the sake of simplicity.
II. Outline
In 1945, all meteorological offices were hit by a series of air raids, and the shortage of personnel and supplies made it difficult for us to carry out our work. In particular, Hiroshima was the first city ever to be subjected to an atomic bombing, leaving the city severely damaged and its people emotionally devastated.
On August 11, the station was upgraded to a regional headquarters, but only in name; in reality, it was only capable of doing the same kind of work as a weather station. In September, a new director was appointed and the first steps toward rebuilding were taken. However, one-third of the personnel were weak and sickly, and many had to return to their hometowns for food supplies, so only about half of the 20 employees were able to come into work.
On September 17, the Makurazaki Typhoon hit the prefecture. Although a weather advisory was issued, it was not sufficiently communicated to the general public due to the inadequate ability of government offices and news organizations. Meanwhile, the typhoon was so powerful that it triggered multiple mudslides, causing extensive damage. The first cause was the torrential rains, and the second was the inadequacy of the disaster prevention system in the aftermath of the war’s defeat.
III. In the Days Before the Atomic Bombing
(Excerpts transcribed from the duty logbook)
June 26, 1945
Warnings issued in early morning, morning, and at midnight.
(Note: Air raid warnings and alerts are hereafter abbreviated as "warning".)
Telephone Bureau is reported to be out of service between Hiroshima and Osaka, both by cable and radio.
All personnel except duty officer engaged in completing air-raid shelters.
June 27
Midnight. Warning issued.
Meteorological telegrams left at station for two days were sent at around 19:00 by special measures.
June 29
Midnight. Warning issued three times.
Telephone broke at 03:00. Repaired at 05:00.
July 1
Midnight. Warning issued.
Observed fire caused by major air raid in Kure City.
July 2
Director HIRANO to Yonago on business trip, returned to observatory in late afternoon.
Cable and radio communication unavailable. (for meteorological telegrams)
July 3
Warnings issued midnight here lately.
Cable and radio lines unavailable. Temporarily available at one point in evening and all unsent messages sent out.
July 4
Midnight. Warning issued as usual.
Cable service unavailable. Encrypted telegrams sent out by radio at 07:00 and 18:00 (handled by the Telephone Bureau).
Night duty allowance paid for April and May.
July 7
Original meteorological observation records moved to air-raid shelters (151 volumes).
Meteorological Observatory Volunteer Corps ordered to report for duty.
All personnel go to sawmill in morning and afternoon to transport lumber (for building Radiosonde room).
July 8
Five members of volunteer corps go to work. From 07:30 to 17:00, demolished houses near Honkawa Elementary School.
July 9
Five volunteers on duty.
Three regular course students arrived for apprenticeship program.
July 10
Five volunteers on duty.
All personnel finished moving remaining lumber at foot of hill.
From this morning onward, director will call roll.
From now on, weather at 14:00 written on back of 06:00 weather map.
July 12
“Teke” railroad weather advisory issued.
Weather advisory issued at 17:00.
Five trainees from regular course begin training today.
All personnel above rank of engineer gather for nighttime air defense instruction from director.
Dedicated lines, telegraph and telephone lines unavailable.
Three warnings issued.
July 18
Subscriber phone lines unavailable.
Around noon, several enemy aircraft (P-38) attack.
July 19
Supervisor ITO came to observatory about his meteorological telegraph. Went to Telephone Bureau in afternoon.
Three warnings issued.
Director is at Yonago Weather Station.
July 22
Engineer ENDO receives a random number table. Returns to observatory.
A sending-off ceremony was held for Engineer YAMAJI's enlistment.
Three warnings issued.
July 24
Early morning, attack of over 500 enemy planes.
Hiroshima receives order to encrypt weather telegrams from Saigo, Matsue, Tsuyama, Okayama, Matsuyama, Takamatsu, and Muroto weather stations.
July 28
Early morning, attack of over 200 enemy planes.
Kabe Branch (evacuation site): Four personnel depart with large two-wheeled cart to provision site.
July 30
Seismograph observations suspended today for clerical work (notification from Central Meteorological Observatory).
August 1
Solar insolation observations with Robitzsch actinograph suspended from today.
August 2
Exterior walls of observatory buildings camouflaged with paint.
A typhoon weather advisory issued at 10:00.
Director left for Yonago before noon.
August 3
Twenty-five personnel from Army Shipping Division Headquarters tour observatory.
Previously unavailable telegraph connection restored at 15:00.
Director in Yonago.
August 4
Weather advisory lifted at 10:00.
Warning issued at night.
Director in Yonago.
August 5
Warning issued at night.
Director in Yonago.
August 6
At around 8:15, B-29s bombed the city of Hiroshima, damaging the observatory's instruments and equipment. Half of the personnel injured by blast. Some treated at Army Hospital in Eba. Those with minor injuries treated here.
Much fire-related lightning and heavy rain occurred around Yokogawa area.
Director in Yonago.
As mentioned above, both the dedicated weather line and the dedicated telephone line to the Telephone Bureau were out of service much of the time, and the subscriber telephone lines were sometimes also down, interfering with the sending and receiving of telegrams. There were days when some telegrams were sent by mail. Radio was used between the Hiroshima and Osaka Telephone Bureaus, depending on the situation. Therefore, the telegrams required encryption.
The air raid alarms were troubling, and the large number of days working for the volunteer corps made it difficult to focus on work. The director's residence was located in Yonago, and he worked half the time in Yonago and half in Hiroshima.
IV. Atomic Bomb Dropped on Hiroshima
On the morning of August 6, the city of Hiroshima was awash in sunshine and greeted by blue skies, as it had been the previous day. Just as the citizens were beginning their activities for the day, at 8:15 a.m., the fateful A-bomb exploded in fiery thunder at 600 meters above the center of the city.
While Hiroshima was instantly transformed into a hell on earth, even the meteorological observatory, which was located in the southern part of the city (3.6 kilometers south-southwest of the hypocenter), experienced a terrifying flash of light, followed closely by a terrible blast.
Many personnel (about half the total) inside and around the observatory suffered burns, glass injuries, broken bones, and a range of other major and minor injuries. When the chaos had subsided somewhat, I inspected the damage to the buildings and instruments, and found that the steel window frames of the solid three-story building of reinforced concrete had been horribly deformed and shards of glass had been driven into the walls and other surfaces. Some of the doors had been blown through, indicating that the blast had passed through them.
The meteorological instruments had sustained surprisingly little damage, including the glass thermometer inside the instrument shelter in the observation field, which was undamaged and still in its original position. The instruments in the wind observation tower were also still intact, and the cup anemometer, which had apparently been rapidly rotated by the blast, had recorded a travel distance of 200 meters. The Robitzsch actinograph on the roof of the second floor had been heavily damaged and was no longer usable. The self-recording instruments for air pressure, temperature, and humidity were unable to record very short changes due to their capabilities, but showed traces of a sudden incident. The seismograph room was a reinforced structure, but the rushing air of the blast shattered the glass, and then hit the instruments, leaving the seismograph destroyed.
Fortunately, we were able to continue our meteorological observations as usual without missing a single measurement. Many of our personnel were injured, had their houses burned down, or lost relatives, making it difficult for them to continue working at the meteorological observatory every day. In addition, the food became even more scarce, and personnel were constantly worried about food while on duty. Two seriously injured employees could not be moved, so they were kept in the observatory building and spent more than a month under the care of their families and coworkers.
Under such adverse conditions, it was extremely difficult for the very small number of personnel to keep up with the hourly observations day and night, but we completed the work with a strong sense of duty to not miss a single measurement. With Japan’s defeat and the subsequent occupation by enemy forces, there was some anxiety that the facilities and records would be confiscated after the war's end, we adhered to the weather observer's principle of never abandoning observations and this gave us a sense of purpose.
Let me describe the situation in Hiroshima on that day. The city as seen from Ebayama Hill (30 meters high) 15 minutes after the bombing appeared reddish-brown like a lethal desert, while the entire sky above was shrouded with a blackish-gray ash. Various parts of the city were already in flames 15 minutes later, and by 9:00 the entire central area of the city was engulfed in black smoke, with the only clearly visible flames coming from the Funairi-machi and Kanon-machi neighborhoods; everywhere else was enveloped in pitch black smoke.
The black smoke rose and developed into a majestic cumulonimbus cloud reaching an estimated height of over 10 kilometers at a glance. The fires peaked between 10:00 and 14:00, gradually dying down in the evening, but flames could still be detected here and there well into the night.
At the observatory on Ebayama Hill, there was a wind blowing in from the south throughout the day, making visibility good and the fires in the city easy to observe. The smoke and clouds rising from the fires were mostly drifting in a northerly or northwesterly direction. Ebayama Hill was in the southern part of the city and had sunshine and blue skies all day, which contrasted sharply with the darkness in the northern part of the city.
Together with the results of later investigations, it was found that upon the outbreak of the firestorm, taking into account the wind flow rate at the observatory on an average day, winds of about 4 meters/second had been created by air currents being sucked into the engulfed city throughout the day. In the northern part of the city, along the San’yo Main Line, air currents from the south and the north formed a convergence line, resulting in a strong updraft that produced tornadoes.
Not a drop of black rain fell at the observatory on Ebayama Hill that day, but according to a later study conducted by the observatory, a downpour lasting over two hours occurred mainly in the northwestern part of the city. One possible cause of this was the strong updrafts that accompanied the A-bomb firestorm, which generated a large quantity of raindrops in the sky and produced thunderstorm-like rainfall.
Thunderstorms sometimes occur during major fires, but in the case of the Hiroshima atomic bombing, it was on a much larger scale. This is thought to be due to the formation of numerous condensation nuclei resulting from radioactive particles produced by nuclear explosions, in addition to the ascending current mentioned above.
V. After the Bombing
August 7
Personnel removed broken window glass in observation rooms, organized inside of observatory, treated injured, and prepared food.
Both cable and radio communications unavailable. No supply of electricity.
Pumpkin lunch served at observatory. The four on duty fed by Eba Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion
August 10
Straightening up interior of observatory top priority, but only 6 people can be mobilized now and regrettably not much progress made.
Cable and wireless transmissions as well as electricity not restored.
Sound of enemy planes raiding Hiroshima at night.
August 11
Director still has not returned. OZAKI, TAMURA not present.
Urgently expanding air-raid shelter. Original records buried in three shelters.
August 12
Director returned at 02:00.
In afternoon, Engineer KITA meets with city hall and Chugoku Electric Power Company.
August 13
Power restored in afternoon.
From today, meteorological telegrams to be taken to Telephone Bureau and sent from there (02:00, 06:00, 10:00, 14:00, 18:00, 22:00).
August 14
Resume receiving “Toyohata” meteorological data transmissions from Central Meteorological Observatory.
August 15
At noon, emperor read imperial edict. Everyone gathers to listen.
August 16
Engineer FURUICHI returns home to Takamatsu City due to illness (Atomic bomb disease).
August 17
Porridge lunch at observatory.
August 18
Director informs personnel that Type B weather transmissions no longer necessary because “Ashihe” broadcast unavailable.
Light rain ends 14-day dry spell. Mornings and evenings cooler.
Engineer YOSHIDA goes to city to search for missing KURIYAMA. (Note: She was killed in atomic bombing.)
August 20
OKADA and HOMMURA arrive at observatory from Yonago Weather Station around 2 p.m.
Preliminary alert lifted.
Person on duty received ration of one serving of soybeans.
August 21
Tower, observation field, and instrument shelter illuminated,
August 22
“Toyohata” meteorological data transmissions unencrypted from this morning.
Meteorological telegrams no longer need encryption. Random number tables to be incinerated.
Aeronautical weather telegrams discontinued as of today.
Buried original documents to be dug up.
National Volunteer Corps disbanded.
August 23
Junior Engineer OTANI arrives from Yonago Weather Station to help. (Note: This will continue in shifts.)
August 24
Emergency repairs made to barometer room and observation room. Barometer in second storeroom restored to original position.
Radio music broadcasts resumed. Weather reports reappear on radio and in newspapers.
(Note: According to a later investigation of newspaper data, the broadcasting was restored on August 23.)
August 25
Typhoon appears south of Cape Muroto. Sadao KAWAMOTO takes storm warning to city hall.
August 26
Typhoon moves quickly out to Sea of Japan.
Junior Engineers KANEKO and KATO sent to preserve original records.
(Note: They had been moved to a staff member's house in the countryside for fear of the Occupation Forces confiscating information.)
Typhoon observed in southern Shikoku appears to be moving northward. Weather advisory issued at 21:00.
August 27
Director HIRANO visits Yonago.
Director SUGAHARA visits observatory.
(Note: New director was appointed on August 11, 1945.)
August 28
Mail brought by neighborhood association.
September 1
Content of “Toyohata” meteorological data transmissions changes.
September 2
Director SUGAHARA starts.
September 5
Restoration of normal schedule from war-time schedule (work schedules, etc).
September 6
Handover of administrative duties between old and new directors. Farewell party for Director HIRANO.
September 7
Repaired roof of Building 1.
September 17
Director is in Tokyo.
Emergency observations due to approaching Typhoon.
“Teke” railroad weather advisory issued at 10:00.
(Arrival of Typhoon Makurazaki)
September 18
Typhoon has passed. Today’s weather is scorching hot. Extensive damage from typhoon.
Cancellation of weather advisory at 10:00.
Power outage.
September 19
Cold at night. Temporary autumn chill.
Prefectural government visits observatory for typhoon survey.
Power restored to affected areas at 16:00.
VI. Arrival of the Makurazaki Typhoon
The following appears in the 33rd volume of the Journal of the Central Meteorological Observatory.
“On September 17, 1945, a typhoon made landfall near Makurazaki on the southern tip of Kyushu, crossing Kyushu and Chugoku before moving out to the Sea of Japan, and then crossing northern Honshu to the Pacific Ocean.
This typhoon was already estimated to have a central pressure of 720 mm or less when it was near Okinawa, but as it approached and landed on Kyushu, it was found to be extremely powerful. However, the situation was not known for certain due to the incomplete restoration of telegraph lines after the end of the war. After receiving reports of storms from Makurazaki, it became clear that this typhoon was of exceptional strength. The minimum atmospheric pressure at Makurazaki of 687.5 mm was comparable to the world record of 684.0 mm measured at Cape Muroto in 1934, and it was comparable in scale to Typhoon Muroto, which inflicted tremendous damage.
The typhoon, which measured approximately 710 mm near Oita, passed over the Iyonada Sea at about 19:30 and moved northeastward at 55 km/h, approaching Hiroshima. The lowest pressure observed in Hiroshima was 721.5 mm at 22:43, and winds were temporarily decreasing at that time. The wind direction was shifting. The Hiroshima Regional Headquarters of Central Meteorological Observatory reported that the eye of the typhoon passed 15 kilometers west of Hiroshima. Wind speeds in Hiroshima were 25 meters per second south of the eye at the time of its passage, and reached a maximum of 30 meters per second north of the eye three hours after its passage. Rain had been falling since the morning of the previous day, with the heaviest one-hour rainfall of 57 millimeters occurring just prior to the approach of the eye on the 17th, bringing the total rainfall to 218.7 millimeters.
The damage was more noticeable east of Iwakuni, with some houses as far as Onoura being smashed by driftwood and large stones or washed away. Rice paddies were buried under earth and sand, as were railroad tracks, leaving the area in a state of utter disarray. Itsukushima Island was severely damaged by earth-flow, resulting in many deaths. The death toll from the flooding in Kure City exceeded 500, an unprecedented figure for the region.
Along the San'yo Main Line, between Kaita, Saijo, and Mihara, water overflowing from streams and ravines spilled out in torrents, sweeping away large stones and pebbles, burying rice paddies in mud, covering railroad tracks, and ripping up the roadbed. Wood and uprooted trees, probably swept down from the mountains, were strewn along the ground. The San'yo Main Line alone required about 18,500 people to restore the line. The time of the earth-flow coincided with the time of the heaviest rainfall as the eye approached, which is one of the characteristics of the way this disaster occurred.”
How did the people of Hiroshima Prefecture cope with the typhoon immediately after the defeat in the war is a matter of some concern, but with the prefectural and municipal offices obliterated by the atomic bomb and most of the staff dead or dispersed, how many people knew that a fierce typhoon was on its way? Despite the meteorological observatory receiving radio signals several times a day, it was only able to produce a minimal weather map for reference in its operations, hardly a useful tool for forecasting. At 10:00 a.m. on the morning of the typhoon, a weather advisory and a “Teke” railroad weather advisory were issued, but there are no records of the contents of these alerts or where they were sent. The subscriber phone lines were still in operation, so several places must have been notified, but it was difficult to inform the general public about how the recipients handled the situation afterwards.
In conducting this study, we gathered data from various sources, but we cannot be certain that any of them were well known to the public. First of all, regarding newspapers of the time, since April 21, 1945, newspapers were published jointly by central and local newspapers under the direction of the government. From October 1 of the same year, newspapers were published independently. The combined holdings of the Hiroshima Municipal Library and the Kure Municipal Library show that there were quite a few days without newspapers. Incidentally, newspapers at this time had two pages a day and were priced at 10 sen per copy. The wartime weather control was lifted and the first weather report was published on August 23. The following is a list of newspaper headlines by day.
August 23, 1945
Continuing drought expected.
Daily weather reports resumed on August 22. Weather report broadcasted on radio.
August 26
Typhoon expected to make landfall near Shikoku. Western Japan under caution.
Weather: general conditions reported. However, focused on Kyushu and reported by Fukuoka Observatory.
August 27
Rain brings welcome relief from drought. Crops rejuvenated.
August 28
Typhoon weakens over Sea of Japan—Central Meteorological Observatory
Flooding in Yamaguchi Prefecture.
August 29
Weather forecast for August 29.
(First time published; however, seems to be for Fukuoka region)
August 30
Unexpected typhoon forecasted. Telegram from “weather station of death" off coast of Okinawa.
September 4
Typhoon will arrive today or tomorrow with winds 30-40 meters per hour. Those living in shacks should take special caution.
September 5
Typhoon over Sea of Japan.
September 11
No worry of typhoon today, although still in season (Central Meteorological Observatory prediction).
September 15
Column: A Million Hearts as One
Rare record rainfall continues for almost 20 days during last 10 days of typhoon season and after.
Same air pressure pattern as rainy season. Shacks are at risk.
September 17
(No weather reported. Makurazaki Typhoon arrived this night.)
September 18
Bridges collapse. Roads flood. Typhoon batters Hiroshima.
Since the end of August, the rain had been pouring down steadily as if it were the rainy season, but on the morning of the 17th, it suddenly turned into a torrential downpour. I hoped that the rain would stop before the flooding started, but unfortunately, my fears were realized. From noon onward, the winds began to pick up and even more rain fell, announcing the arrival of the typhoon. The citizens of Hiroshima, who had been tested by the fire of the atomic bomb on August 6, were now being tested by water. The rivers swelled rapidly. Storm sewers flowed backwards, creating torrents everywhere. Shacks built on scorched earth and half destroyed houses were blown away.
In the rural areas, low-lying fields became like lakes. Filled with trepidation, we faced the night, but the wind and rain intensified, and the electricity went out. Bridges were washed away. Trains were suspended. The citizens, who had survived the fire, bravely fought against the fury of the heavens, although their anxiety increased every moment.
Constant vigilance continued in the dark night. Finally, at midnight, the rain stopped. Eventually, the winds died down.
Apparently, there is considerable damage throughout the prefecture. However, the resilient people of Hiroshima, who are moving forward with the construction of a new Japan, will overcome their hardships and rise again.
--One photo (a photo published in the newspaper)—
Villagers fighting the flood (near the displaced factory of the Chugoku Shimbun in Nukushina, outside of Hiroshima City)
No newspapers were found between September 19 and September 30.
This was presumably due to damage from Typhoon Makurazaki. The Chugoku Shimbun had a temporary office at the Toyo Kogyo factory in Mukainada, Hiroshima City at this time.
October 5
Typhoon returns to mainland.
Today’s weather: Okayama, Kagawa, Tokushima, Tottori, Aichi, Gifu, Fukui, Ishikawa, Toyama (no Hiroshima)
October 7
Today’s weather: 12 regions. (no Hiroshima)
October 9
Weather advisory issued in Shikoku (from Matsuyama)
Today’s weather: 8 regions. (no Hiroshima)
October 10
Last typhoon of year is approaching. Autumn harvest season will be severely affected. Extreme caution is required in western Japan.
Today’s weather: 12 regions. (no Hiroshima)
The above is approximately what happened. It was not until March 13, 1946, that weather forecasts for the Hiroshima area began to appear in newspapers for the first time after the war.
The following is a summary of radio broadcasting (NHK Hiroshima) at the time of the bombing. The broadcasting station was located on the outskirts of the city and suffered little direct damage from the atomic bombing. According to the program listings in the archives of NHK Hiroshima (January to December 1945, excluding the months of February to August), weather forecasts were broadcast on NHK Radio 1 with time signals and news reports at the hours of 05:00, 06:00, 07:00, and 21:00, and again at 18:50 with program announcements, for a total of five times per day. It was not clear if the weather forecast was a national broadcast or a local one.
The page for September 17, the day the typhoon arrived, shows regular weekday programming, with no special broadcasts related to the typhoon. On the page for October 5 (a typhoon was approaching the Kii Channel, changing course to the east-northeast, and leaving off the Kanto coast), it is noted that emergency typhoon warnings were broadcast at midnight and 3:00 a.m. The content of the broadcast is not known, but it appears that it was broadcast from the Central Meteorological Observatory.
I also wrote to Mr. Yoshio SUGAWARA, who had just been appointed Director of the Hiroshima Regional Headquarters of Central Meteorological Observatory at the time, and asked him about his impression of the situation then, to which he replied as follows.
“I was told to get off at the station and saw nothing but a vast ruin as far as the eye could see, and I remember seeing the carcasses of livestock still covered in maggots, and I wondered what to expect.
The observatory's barometer room was littered with shards of glass, the result of the atomic bombing, and the roof of the residence for personnel was leaking. It was left as is so that the people from the Central Meteorological Observatory could see it. I remember that I climbed up on the roof of the director’s official residence and made emergency repairs. Although the damage to the meteorological observatory was somewhat less severe than in the center of the city, the majority of personnel were affected by the disaster and they were faced with the urgent problem of how to provide for their daily lives and housing. This brings us to the matter you are asking about.
(1) Under these circumstances, the infrastructure of Hiroshima Prefecture and the city was still in a state of paralysis. The meteorological observatory was barely able to continue its observation work, and if it had received any “Toyohata” meteorological data transmissions at that time, it would still have been a great accomplishment. It is hard to imagine that they were ready to issue forecasts in September. It is also difficult to imagine that the capability to transmit forecasts to the rest of the prefecture had been restored.
(2) The whole of Japan was in a state of collapse, so to speak, and we could not expect any administrative support from the central government or neighboring prefectures (everyone was too busy taking care of themselves).
(3) Due to the devastation in Hiroshima, there were opinions that it would be better to move the functions of the regional headquarters to Yonago. I think I was in Yonago on a business trip for that reason.”
As mentioned earlier, the first reason for the particularly heavy damage caused by Typhoon Makurazaki is that the typhoon was extremely powerful and accompanied by torrential rainfall. Second, the meteorological observatory and other public institutions were in a state of collapse, and the general public could not be informed. Thirdly, the war had inflicted severe damage upon private homes and other facilities, rendering them completely vulnerable to the storm.
In other words, the severe typhoon coupled with the damage caused by the war left the people of Hiroshima Prefecture devastated and utterly destitute.
VII. After the Makurazaki Typhoon
September 21
Agricultural Products Division of prefectural government visits observatory for typhoon survey.
September 22
Head of Hiroshima Industrial Port visits observatory for typhoon survey.
September 23
Prefectural Fire Defense & Control Section visits observatory for typhoon survey.
September 24
Clean up seismograph room.
September 27
Clean up library and other facilities.
Repair radio receiver.
Use of time signal siren begins.
September 28
Dr. Michitaka UDA visits observatory.
Engineer KITA will begin to visit city from today to research damage caused by A-bomb and typhoon.
October 3
Director will begin to visit city from today to research damage caused by A-bomb and typhoon.
October 7
Power outage continues.
Telephone Bureau comes to repair telephone.
Contact telegraph section at 18:00. (Open 08:00-18:00)
October 8
Power finally returns around 16:00. At 18:00, Hiroshima weather is included in “Toyohata” meteorological data transmissions for first time in two months since A-bomb.
October 10
Weather advisory issued due to approaching typhoon.
Telephone lines unavailable since 15:00 prior day.
October 11
River and Harbor Division of prefectural government visits observatory for typhoon survey.
October 12
Supervisor SANO of our seismology section and one other visit observatory for A-bomb survey.
October 13
Five U.S. military personnel come to inspect observatory from noon for one hour accompanied by interpreter.
VIII. Afterward
In 1945, while the war was worsening, the staff of the observatory continued to labor tirelessly in the face of daily and nightly air raids, ultimately experiencing history's first atomic bombing on the morning of August 6, and while we struggled to maintain our observations in the midst of this devastation, Hiroshima was hit once again by the ferocious Makurazaki Typhoon. This we have documented for posterity.
The year 1945 was the worst year for the people of Hiroshima Prefecture.
Sources: “Hiroshima Genbaku Sensaishi (Record of Hiroshima A-bomb War Disaster)”, edited and published by The City of Hiroshima, Vol. 5, 1971, pp. 723-731.
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