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Typhoon Haishen has hit southern Japan with strong winds and torrential rains, cutting off power to tens of thousands of homes and prompting authorities to ask some 1.8 million people to evacuate their homes.
Haishen was approaching southern Japan’s main island, Kyushu, on Sunday night.
“This typhoon is heading towards Kyushu and could make landfall, bringing rain, winds, waves and record high tides,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in a meeting with cabinet ministers.
“I ask people to exercise the utmost caution.”
The typhoon is forecast to carry maximum sustained winds of up to 216 km / h (134 mph) on Monday, the Japan weather agency said.
NHK WORLD news
(@NHKWORLD_News)Click to see our meteorologist provide the latest details on #Typhoon #Haishen.https: //t.co/aT5eBtMKo7
Authorities urged evacuations of people in areas of seven prefectures in southern Japan, public broadcaster NHK said, an effort that was complicated by social distancing that meant evacuation centers could carry fewer people than normal. .
The typhoon was forecast to approach the Goto Islands west of Nagasaki around 3 a.m.Monday and then move to the Korean peninsula, according to the weather agency.
James reynolds
(@EarthUncutTV)The wind rips the sea off the northeast coast of Amami at this time #typhoon #Haishen #Japan pic.twitter.com/6RPhxTXJ5f
An evacuation center in Miyazaki reached capacity and stopped accepting evacuees as a precaution against the coronavirus, according to NHK.
Airlines canceled more than 500 flights departing from Okinawa and southern Japan, NHK said. Bullet train services in southern and western Japan were suspended, he said.
Japan’s coast guard suspended its search for missing crew members from a ship that capsized in the East China Sea last week with a cargo of cattle on Saturday for the second day.
Typhoon Haishen follows Typhoon Maysak, which struck the Korean peninsula on Thursday, leaving at least two dead and thousands temporarily without power.
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