(Minamata) Thousands of people sought refuge in shelters in southwestern Japan on Sunday as a powerful typhoon struck. Nanmadol More than four million residents are headed toward the area, with officials recommending evacuation.
Updated yesterday at 11:29 pm.
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) issued a “special warning” for Kagoshima and Mizayaki prefectures in the south of the big island of Kyushu, warning residents of a high risk of severe weather.
As of Sunday morning, about 98,000 homes in the Kagoshima, Miyazaki, Kumamoto and Nagasaki regions were already without power, while regional train services, flights and ferry crossings were canceled, according to utilities and local transport services.
Some grocery stores, normally open 24 hours a day, are closed even during severe weather.
The JMA warned that the region faces an “unprecedented” risk from high winds, raging waves and torrential rain.
“Please stay away from dangerous places and evacuate if you feel any danger,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida tweeted after calling a cabinet meeting. “It is dangerous to evacuate at night. Be safe while it’s daylight,” he added.
State broadcaster NHK said more than four million people had received emergency evacuation recommendations on the island of Kyushu, and officials in Kagoshima and Miyazaki said more than 15,000 people were in shelters on Sunday afternoon.
“Extreme caution is needed,” Ryuta Kurora, head of the JMA’s forecast department, said on Saturday. “This is a very dangerous typhoon.”
“The wind will be very strong, some houses are likely to collapse,” Kurora told reporters, also warning of floods and landslides.
Mr. Kurora urged residents to vacate the premises before littering and warned them to take precautions even in fortified buildings.
“Don’t go near the windows”
“Please go to strong buildings before high winds blow and don’t go near windows even inside strong buildings,” he told an overnight press conference.
On Sunday morning, high-speed rail traffic was halted in the region, along with regional rail lines, and NHK reported hundreds of flight cancellations.
On the ground, weather conditions are deteriorating rapidly, said a municipal official in Izumi (Kagoshima Prefecture).
“The wind has become very strong. The rain is also coming down very hard,” he told AFP. “Visibility is almost zero.”
On the coast, in the town of Minamata, fishing boats, anchored for safety, floated on high waves while a driving rain pelted the excursion.
At 1pm (4am GMT), the typhoon was over the small Japanese island of Yakushima and had sustained winds of 234km/h. It is expected to make landfall in Kyushu further north on Sunday evening before turning northeast and sweeping Japan’s main island of Honshu until Wednesday morning.
Typhoon season peaks in Japan from August to September, when heavy rains fall, which can cause flash floods and deadly landslides.
Typhoon in 2019 Hagibis It fell on Japan in the middle of the Rugby World Cup, killing over a hundred people.
A year before, Typhoon JB It led to the closure of Kansai Airport in Osaka, killing 14 people.
And in 2018, floods and landslides in western Japan during the rainy season killed more than 200 people.
Scientists predict that climate change will increase the intensity of hurricanes and extreme weather events.
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