Tokyo, 18 September, /AJMEDIA/
Japan on Sunday braced for the possibility of a large and powerful typhoon landing on its southwestern region of Kyushu, with the weather agency warning of unprecedented winds and waves, and calling for the highest level of caution.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said Typhoon Nanmadol has moved slowly northward to Kyushu and is forecast to come very close to the region on Sunday through Monday.
The agency, which issued a special typhoon warning for Kagoshima Prefecture on Saturday night, said that some areas in Kyushu and the Shikoku region in western Japan could see linear rainbands through Monday morning.
This marks the first time the agency has issued a special typhoon warning for an area apart from Okinawa Prefecture.
Although the typhoon, the 14th this season, had weakened by 3 a.m. Sunday, there was still a possibility of maximum gusts of around 250 kilometers per hour. In Yakushima, Kagoshima Prefecture, maximum wind speeds of up to 156.6 kph were recorded on Sunday morning.
The typhoon, which had an atmospheric pressure of 925 hectopascals at its center, is expected to curve eastward after reaching northern Kyushu and travel across Japan’s main archipelago.
The agency said southern Kyushu could receive up to 600 millimeters of rain in the 24 hours to 6 a.m. Monday, while northern Kyushu and Shikoku could see up to 400 mm of rainfall.
