Tropical Storm Kim (1983)
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| Tropical storm (SSHS) | ||
|---|---|---|
 Tropical Storm Kim in the South China Sea |
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| Formed | October 14, 1983 | |
| Dissipated | October 20, 1983 | |
| Highest winds |
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| Lowest pressure | 993 millibars | |
| Damage | unknown | |
| Fatalities | 200-300 direct | |
| Areas affected |
Indochina | |
| Part of the 1983 Pacific typhoon season 1983 North Indian cyclone season |
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Tropical Storm Kim the only storm of 1983 to move from the Western Pacific basin into the North Indian Ocean basin as it moved across southern Indochina and into the Bay of Bengal as a tropical depression. Although Kim was a weak tropical storm, it still managed to cause 200 deaths and heavy crop damage in Indochina.
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[edit] Storm history
Kim was first detected as a tropical wave on October 9 near 9°N 150°E. The wave moved westward for four days, and officials predicted that the system would not develop into anything and forecasted the it to dissipate near the Philippines. On October 14, the disturbance showed signs of weakening and its circulation was no longer identifiable on satellite imagery until the following day when the system rapidly and unexpectedly strengthened into a tropical depression as it entered the South China Sea. It intensified while crossing the South China Sea, reaching tropical storm strength five hours before making landfall on the coast of Vietnam. Advisories for Kim were suspended as the storm moved rapidly over Vietnam and Kampuchea as a weak tropical depression before entering the eastern Indian Ocean twelve hours later as a remnant low.
On October 19, advisories for Kim resumed when the storm reformed as a tropical depression. Now reformed in the Indian Ocean, Kim crossed the tip of Burma and instead of moving out over the open waters of the North Indian Ocean, it recurved and moved parallel to the coast of western Indochina and began to weaken steadily. Kim then dissipated before a circulation could affect Bangladesh on October 20.
Kim was one of several storms to cross from the western Pacific basin to the North Indian Ocean basin due to a strong high pressure system to the north. Only five storms of at least tropical storm strength have ever underwent such a transition, the most recent was Typhoon Vamei of 2001.
[edit] Impact
Even though Tropical Storm Kim was a weak storm, its heavy rains caused serious flashflooding and mudslides in Vietnam and Thailand. In Thailand, already deluged by an earlier tropical storm, there was moderate flooding in Bangkok. Elsewhere, over 300 boats and 3,000 homes and buildings were destroyed and the storm severely damaged much of the rice harvest. Exact damage figures however are unknown. According to press reports, 200-300 people, most of them fishermen, were killed by the storm.
[edit] Lack of retirement
However, despite the damage, death toll and the unique track the name Kim was not retired and it was reused to name further typhoons until the name list it was on was phased out during the 1989 Pacific typhoon season.
