TOKYO – A powerful typhoon came closer to Japan’s southwestern main island Sunday and continued to move northward, engulfing nearly all of the Kyushu region in a storm zone and prompting local authorities to urge more than 8 million people to evacuate across a wide area of the country.
At least 17 people were injured in Kagoshima, Kumamoto, Miyazaki and Nagasaki prefectures due to the typhoon, a Kyodo News tally as of 10 p.m. Sunday showed. Typhoon Haishen also caused power outages in about 142,000 houses.
Japan’s weather agency urged maximum caution and called on the public to be vigilant over heavy rain, strong winds, high waves and tidal surges, Kyodo News reported.
Days earlier, the Japan Meteorological Agency had issued warnings for people to be prepared for the typhoon.
The agency also said it could have issued a special warning of typhoon for most of Kagoshima Prefecture on Sunday morning, but decided not to after the weather system weakened slightly.
The typhoon passed near Okinawa, the southern island prefecture, and the remote Amami-Oshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, on the southern tip of Kyushu, and is expected to move north off Kyushu’s west coast from Sunday night through Monday morning, the agency said.
It is projected to reach the Korean Peninsula by Monday morning, according to the agency.
— BERNAMA
