the storm and assigned it with the local name Miling. Initially, forecasters anticipated Babe to maintain its westward course as it strengthened and threaten the Philippines; however, its forward motion gradually slowed as it neared the region. On September 5, an upper-level trough formed over northeastern Asia and created a weakness in the subtropical ridge, allowing Babe to turn north-northwestward. Over the following two days, the storm quickly strengthened as divergence increased ahead of the storm, with Babe attaining typhoon status early on September 6 Between 0832 UTC on September 5 and 2204 UTC on September 7, the storm's barometric pressure dropped from 988 mbar (hPa; ) to 907 mbar (hPa; ), approximately 1.3 mbar (hPa; ) per hour. Early on September 8, Babe attained its peak intensity with winds of while situated approximately southeast of Ishigaki Island. This ranked it as the first and only super typhoon of the 1977 season. At this time, the Japan Meteorological Agency estimated the storm to have had peak ten-minute sustained winds of and a minimum pressure of 905 mbar (hPa; ). Until September 8, Babe was forecast to continue northwestward into Taiwan and later China; however, another upper-level trough moved into northeastern China and further weakened the ridge. This in turn allowed a new area of low pressure to develop over the Korean Peninsula and cause Babe to curve northeastward. While moving northeastward, Babe gradually weakened and began to undergo a Fujiwhara-like interaction with the low near Korea as that system moved southwestward. Accelerating along a counter-clockwise arc, Babe moved through the Ryukyu Islands as a weakening typhoon on September 9 before taking a steady westward course into China. As the system passed through the archipelago, a pressure of 907.3 mbar (hPa; ) was measured on Okinoerabujima. Babe eventually made landfall near Shanghai with winds of before rapidly weakening over land. The system was last noted early on September 12 over Anhui Province. Impact Torrential rain fell across much of the Ryukyu Islands, Shikoku, and Kyushu. The highest total were observed in Kōchi Prefecture, with Funato in Tsuno, Kōchi measuring . The small island of Okinoerabujima reportedly experienced winds in excess of for two hours as the typhoon passed by. Nearly two-thirds of the homes across the island were damaged or destroyed by the storm and 73 people were injured. Most of the injuries across the island were caused by collapsing buildings.