Thousands of people were in shelters in southwestern Japan on Sunday as powerful Typhoon Nanmadol barreled toward the region, prompting authorities to evacuate some 3 million residents.
Japan’s Meteorological Agency (JMA) has issued a rare “special warning” for the Kagoshima region in southern Kyushu prefecture – an alert that is only issued when once-in-decade conditions are predicted. says
As of Sunday morning, 25,680 households in Kagoshima and neighboring Miyazaki were already without power, while regional train services, flights and ferry runs were canceled pending the storm’s passage, local utilities and transport services said.
The JMA warned that the region could face an “unprecedented” risk of high winds, storm surges and torrential rain.
“Extreme caution is needed,” Ryota Korora, head of the JMA’s forecasting unit, said on Saturday.
“This is a very dangerous storm.”
“The wind will be so strong that some houses may collapse,” Korora told reporters, also warning of flooding and landslides.
Evacuation warnings have been issued for 2.9 million residents of Kyushu so far, according to the government’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency, and Kagoshima officials said more than 8,500 people were already in local shelters as of Sunday morning.
Evacuation warnings call for people to move to shelter or alternative housing that can withstand severe weather.
But these are not mandatory, and during past extreme weather events officials have struggled to convince residents to seek shelter quickly enough.
Korora urged people to evacuate before the worst of the storm and warned that residents would need to take precautions even in fortified buildings.
‘The utmost caution is possible’
“Please move to fortified buildings before violent winds start to blow and stay away from windows even inside fortified buildings,” he told a late-night press conference.
As of Sunday morning, bullet train operations in the region along with regional train lines were halted, and NHK said at least 510 flights had been cancelled.
“The southern part of Kyushu may experience violent winds, high tides and high tides that have never been seen before,” the JMA said on Sunday, urging residents to “exercise utmost caution”. Emphasized.
On the ground, a prefectural official in Kagoshima told AFP there were no reports of injuries or structural damage yet but the situation was deteriorating.
“It’s raining and the wind is picking up. The rain is so strong that you can’t really see what’s there. It all looks white,” he said.
At 9:00 a.m. (0000 GMT), the typhoon was 80 kilometers (50 mi) southeast of Japan’s Yakushima Island, with sustained winds of 252 kilometers per hour.
It is expected to make landfall in Kyushu on Sunday evening, before turning northeast and making landfall over Japan’s main island by early Wednesday.
Japan is currently in typhoon season and experiences about 20 such typhoons a year, usually with heavy rains that cause landslides or flash floods.
In 2019, Typhoon Higibus hit Japan as it hosted the Rugby World Cup, killing more than 100 people.
A year ago, Typhoon Jebi closed Kansai Airport in Osaka, killing 14 people.
And in 2018, floods and landslides killed more than 200 people in western Japan during the country’s annual rainy season.
Climate change is increasing the intensity of storms and extreme weather such as heat waves, droughts and floods are becoming more frequent and severe, scientists say.
