Typhoon heads for Kyushu

August 24, 2015

Typhoon Goni batters Okinawa, heads for Kyushu

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/08/24/national/typhoon-goni-pounds-okinawa-ishigaki-gets-strongest-ever-gusts-injuries-reported/#.Vdt4IJfwlLN

Kyodo, JIJI

Typhoon Goni, which battered Okinawa and was over the East China Sea on Monday, was poised to make a landfall on Kyushu on Tuesday morning, prompting the Meteorological Agency to warn of violent winds and high waves.

The weather agency also alerted residents in Shikoku and western Japan that there could be landslides and floods.

Violent winds are expected in Kyushu from early Tuesday with the maximum wind speed reaching 144 kph. Wind will also blow at maximum 108 kph and 82.8 kph in Kagoshima Prefecture’s Amami and Okinawa Prefecture, respectively.

Waves as high as 9 to 12 meters were forecast in seas around Kyushu, Okinawa Prefecture and Amami, while maximum 8 meter and 6 meter waves are expected for Shikoku and Kinki regions.

The typhoon was also expected to bring heavy rainfall of more than 80 millimeters per hour to Shikoku, where up to 400 mm of rain may fall in 24 hours through 6 a.m. Tuesday, it said.

As of 6 p.m., the typhoon was located 140 km west-northwest of Amami and moving northeast at 40 kph with an atmospheric pressure of 940 hectopascals near its center.

Nine people were injured in Okinawa Prefecture by Monday due to the typhoon. Six of the injured people were on Ishigaki Island, where the maximum instantaneous wind speed of 255.6 kilometers per hour was observed on Sunday night.

All Nippon Airways canceled more than 80 flights, mostly those to and from Okinawa’s Naha Airport, and Japan Airlines canceled more than 40 flights.

Typhoon Goni dumped heavy rain and triggered landslides in the northern Philippines before approaching Taiwan and Japan, leaving at least 17 people dead and 14 others missing.

Another typhoon, Astani, was moving northeast in the Pacific east of Japan.