Powerful typhoon drenches Japan, tens of thousands advised to evacuate
22 Oct 2017 3:38 PM GMT
TOKYO: Tens of thousands of people across Japan were advised to evacuate, hundreds of flights were cancelled and train services were disrupted on Sunday as a typhoon roared toward the coast, bringing heavy rain and strong winds on a national election day.
Typhoon Lan, classified as an intense Category 4 storm by the Tropical Storm Risk monitoring site, was south of Japan and moving northeast at 40 kph on Sunday afternoon, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.
An agency official told a news conference that while Lan appeared to have weakened slightly from its peak, it was still a powerful storm that could pound parts of Japan with more than 80 mm (3 inches) of rain an hour. It is set to make landfall on Japan's main island of Honshu, possibly near Tokyo, early on Monday.
"It will make landfall as a strong typhoon," the official said.
"The wind and rain will grow stronger as the night goes on, so take measures as needed as early as possible, preferably before it gets dark."
Wind gusts of up to 162 kph (100 mph) were possible across central and eastern Japan early on Monday, the JMA added.
One man was knocked unconscious after scaffolding collapsed at a building site, NHK said. There were a handful of other injuries caused by falls in the strong wind, all minor.
The agency issued warnings for heavy rain and flooding on the Pacific side of Japan including the Tokyo metropolitan area, even though the typhoon is likely to be downgraded to Category 3 by Sunday night, with the activity of a seasonal rain front intensified by the storm. More than 70,000 households in various parts of Japan were advised to evacuate, with more than 5,000 ordered to do so, NHK public television said.
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