A powerful typhoon headed toward the southern Japanese island of Okinawa on Monday, disrupting ferry service and pelting the region with heavy rain.
Typhoon Tokage, the Japanese word for lizard, will be the record 10th typhoon to strike Japan this year if it makes landfall, the Meteorological Agency said.
With sustained winds of 144kph, the storm was about 440km south of Naha city, the capital of Okinawa prefecture (state), at 8pm (11am GMT) on Monday.
It was expected to slam into Okinawa on Tuesday morning, the agency said.
Naha is 1 600km south-west of Tokyo.
Television footage of Naha showed palm trees buffeted by strong winds and pedestrians struggling to hold up their umbrellas.
Transport Ministry official Fumikazu Ikeno said ferry operators cancelled most scheduled services linking Okinawa and other parts of Japan on Monday. But commercial planes flew as scheduled.
The Meteorological Agency warned that waves up to 9m tall could whip Okinawa’s coastline, and as much as 250mm of rain could fall in some parts of the prefecture by Tuesday evening.
Earlier this month, Typhoon Ma-on killed six people in Japan after swiping the country’s Pacific coast. A week before that, Typhoon Meari killed 22.
This year’s typhoons have far outstripped the previous post-World War II record of six, set in 1990. — Sapa-AP