The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a special typhoon warning Saturday for Kagoshima Prefecture in Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s main islands, as the region braced for a powerful and potentially devastating typhoon.
The warning came after the weather agency urged residents to evacuate parts of Kyushu earlier in the day ahead of Typhoon Nanmadol, which is expected to bring up to half a meter of rain when it hits the area on Sunday.
Classified as a super typhoon by the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center, Nanmadol has the potential to be the most destructive tropical storm to hit Japan in decades.
The 14th typhoon of the season was near Minami-Daito Island in southern Japan, moving northwest at 20 km/h on Saturday afternoon. Winds in the center of the storm were blowing at 198 km/h, with gusts of up to 270 km/h, the agency said.
Ryota Korura, an official with the Japan Meteorological Agency, said in a televised news conference that “unprecedented” storms and rains could hit the area, urging residents to evacuate before dark.
Copyright © Thomson Reuters.
