moved northwestward across the archipelago. By October 19, the system had weakened to a tropical storm, less than 24 hours after attaining its peak winds. Despite the notable weakening, the structure of the storm remained relatively intact as it moved over the Sulu Sea. Throughout the day, the system briefly sped up before rapidly slowing near the South China Sea. On October 20, decreased interaction with land allowed Kate to re-attain typhoon status just before passing over Busuanga Island. Continuing its northwest track, the typhoon slowly intensified and redeveloped a 37 mi (23 mi) wide eye. Late on October 21, the JTWC assessed the storm to have re-attained Category 4 intensity; however, post-storm analysis indicated that sustained winds did not exceed . The following day, a ridge to the north of Kate prevented the system from tracking further north and prompted a west-southwestward track. Gradual weakening took place over the following several days as Kate slowly neared the Indochina coastline. By October 24, winds had decreased below and the eye became asymmetrical and partially open in the northeast quadrant. On October 25, the typhoon further weakened to a tropical storm just off the coast of Vietnam. Later that day, the system made its final landfall near Da Nang, Vietnam with winds of . Rapid weakening ensued as Kate moved over the high terrain of southwest Asia, with the storm degrading to a tropical depression within six hours of moving inland. The system dissipated within the next 24 hours as it moved over the plateau region of Cambodia. Both JTWC and JMA released their final advisories as Kate dissipated over Vietnam. Impact Philippines In southern Mindanao, over 5,000 houses and other such structures were damaged or destroyed by storm surge, heavy rains and strong winds produced by Typhoon Kate. Damage from the storm was estimated at $50 million, making it one of the costliest typhoons on record at the time. A total of 631 people were confirmed to have been killed by the storm and 284 others were listed as missing, ranking Kate as one of the deadliest typhoons to strike the Philippines at the time. An American newspaper, The Lewiston Daily Sun (now known as the Sun Journal) incorrectly dubbed Kate as the deadliest typhoon to ever hit the Philippines; however, typhoons Amy and Trix in the early 1950s had higher death tolls compared to Kate (991 and 995 respectively),