The most powerful typhoon to hit eastern Japan in a decade was bearing down on Tokyo and neighbouring regions on Saturday, sparking transport chaos amid warnings of torrential rain, strong winds and landslides.
Typhoon Ma-on, packing winds of up to 162kph, was churning towards Japan and was due to slam into central or eastern Japan late on Saturday, the Meteorological Agency warned.
”You can be hit by sudden gusts of winds … please be careful as the typhoon is certain to land [in Japan],” a weather official told a news conference, a week after another tropical storm left 28 dead or presumed dead.
Railway companies suspended some rapid train services in central and eastern Japan. Express roads were partially closed while 151 domestic flights were cancelled, public network Japan Broadcasting Corporation said.
Downpours also disrupted practice runs for Sunday’s formula-one Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka, on Japan’s central Pacific coast.
Race organisers rescheduled Saturday’s qualifying sessions for Sunday.
Rainfall of 500ml was expected in the 24 hours to 6pm (9am GMT) on Saturday in the central prefecture of Mie, where the Suzuka circuit is located.
The typhoon is the strongest storm to hit the eastern Japan region centring on Tokyo in 10 years in terms of its atmospheric pressure reading, according to the agency.
Ma-on, the Cantonese word meaning horse saddle, was south of central Japan coasts at about midday (3.30am GMT) and moving north-east at an accelerated speed of 55kph.
The typhoon may bring about downpours of 50cm to 80cm per hour in the eastern Japan region on the Pacific coast, the agency said.
Television footage showed flooded houses in central Japan. In Tokyo, port officials were checking water gates while a plastic cover was put on the huge paper-made lantern set in the outer gate of the landmark Sensoji temple.
Another typhoon, Meari, wreaked havoc over the Japanese islands last week.
It has left 22 dead, six missing presumed dead, and 89 injured in floods, landslides and other storm-triggered accidents before fizzling out in the northern Pacific, according to the latest count by the National Police Agency. — Sapa-AFP