The special warning urged hundreds of thousands of people to leave their homes before Nanmadol arrived.
Hundreds of thousands of people in Japan have been warned to evacuate their homes amid warnings of “unprecedented” risks from an impending storm.
Typhoon Nanmadol is expected to hit the island of Kyushu on Sunday, 18/9.
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Winds can reach 270 km/h and in some areas 500mm of rain can fall in just 24 hours.
A “special warning” is in effect for Kyushu with landslide and flood warnings. Train services and flights were cancelled.
Kyushu is the southernmost of the four islands that make up Japan’s main archipelago, with a population of over 13 million.
According to the Japan Times, this is the first special alert issued outside of Okinawa Prefecture, which consists of the smaller, remote islands of the East China Sea.
Once the typhoon makes landfall, it is expected to head northeast and head towards Tokyo from central Japan.
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It is also expected to retain most of its strength even after contact with the ground.
“There are risks of unprecedented storms, high waves, storms and record rain,” an official from Japan’s meteorological agency told reporters on Saturday 17/9.
He added that Nanmadol has the potential to be worse than Typhoon Jebi, which killed 14 people in 2018, and Typhoon Hagibis, which caused widespread power outages in 2019.
The agency also warned that some homes, particularly in southern Kyushu, were at risk of collapse, urging residents to seek shelter in safer buildings.
source: Noticias
