Typhoon Sarah, known as the Miyakojima Typhoon in Japan, was a destructive typhoon, and among the deadliest on record in the western Pacific Ocean, killing around 2,000 people. It formed during the peak of the busy 1959 Pacific typhoon season near Guam, and moved generally to the west-northwest. Continued observations from the hurricane hunters allowed the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) to track Sarah from its origins to its peak as a powerful typhoon, with maximum sustained winds estimated at on September 15. Shortly thereafter, the typhoon struck the small Japanese island of Miyako-jima, where the barometric pressure fell to , the second-lowest on record for the country. Sarah turned to the north and northeast, weakening from its peak intensity. On September 17, the typhoon made landfall just west of Busan, South Korea with winds of , the nation's strongest landfall at the time and only to be surpassed by Typhoon Maemi in 2003. Sarah later became extratropical over the Japanese island of Hokkaido on September 18, although the remnants persisted for several days, crossing into the Russian Far East and later dissipating on September 23.
On Miyako-jima, Sarah damaged all of the crops and destroyed about 6,000 houses. Damage was estimated at $2 million, and there were seven deaths. The damage prompted the Japan Meteorological Agency to give Sarah the special name of the "Miyakojima Typhoon". However, the effects were worst in South Korea, and Sarah was described as the worst typhoon there in 50 years. Wind gusts there peaked at , the highest at the time in the country. High winds and waves heavily damaged the port of Busan. Nationwide, the storm destroyed over 14,000 homes and left 782,126 people homeless, causing over $100 million in damage. At least 669 people were killed in South Korea, and an additional 1,200 fishermen were lost offshore the country. In Japan, widespread flooding killed 47 people and destroyed 16,632 homes.
Meteorological history
On September 10, a tropical disturbance persisted within the Intertropical Convergence Zone near Pohnpei. When the hurricane hunters approached the system at 02:00 UTC on September 11, they observed a center with several small circulations about east of Guam. On that basis, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center classified the system as Tropical Depression Sarah. The depression passed near or just north of Guam, as tracked by radar. By late on September 11, the hurricane hunters were reporting flight-level winds of . Early on September 12, the JTWC upgraded Sarah to a tropical storm after the circulation became better defined. The storm exhibited a parabolic trajectory that was slightly to the west of the typical September storm. It moved westward initially but gradually curved to the northwest. A hurricane hunters flight at 14:15 UTC on September 12 observed a eye diameter, prompting the JTWC to upgrade Sarah further to typhoon status, with maximum sustained winds of .
After becoming a typhoon, Sarah quickly intensified; at 08:00 UTC on September 13, the hurricane hunters reported flight-level winds of . Subsequent analysis estimated that the typhoon attained these winds at 00:00 UTC that day. At 12:00 UTC on September 14, the JTWC estimated that Sarah intensified to the equivalent of a Category 5 on the Saffir–Simpson scale, based on aircraft estimates. The typhoon intensified further, and late on September 14 the hurricane hunters reported flight-level winds of , estimating surface winds of . The intensity was adjusted slightly downward in a post-analysis, with peak winds of at 06:00 UTC on September 15 about east of Taiwan. In addition, the typhoon attained a minimum barometric pressure of .