Throughout its course, Typhoon Dot produced heavy rains in the Philippines, China and Vietnam, resulting in significant damage and eight fatalities.

In early June 1989, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) began monitoring a tropical disturbance that developed over the southern Philippine Sea.

[3][nb 2] Early on June 5, the JTWC followed suit and issued their first advisory on Tropical Depression 05W, at which time the system was situated roughly 555 km (345 mi) southwest of the island of Samar in the Philippines.

[5] Tracking generally towards the west-northwest, the depression intensified into a Tropical Storm and was given the name Dot, 12 hours before making landfall in Samar on June 6.

At the time, forecasters at the JTWC anticipated that Dot would interact with an approaching weather front and track north of Hainan Island.

Following the development of an eye, the storm reached its peak intensity later that day as a Category 3 equivalent typhoon on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale, with maximum sustained winds estimated at 185 km/h (115 mph).

[2] By the morning of June 9, the JMA assessed Dot to have attained ten-minute sustained winds of 150 km/h (95 mph) and a barometric pressure of 955 mbar (hPa; 28.2 inHg).

[5] Across Hainan Island, the storm produced heavy rains and damaging winds that left eight cities without power or telephone service.

[7] Roughly two weeks after Tropical Storm Cecil devastated parts of Vietnam,[8] Dot caused further flooding along the Red River Delta.