Powerful Typhoon Tokage struck southern Japan on Tuesday, with torrential rain and strong winds that disrupted air traffic, forced public schools to close and left thousands of households without electricity. Six people suffered minor injuries.
The typhoon slammed Naha, the capital of Okinawa prefecture, and was headed for Japan’s main islands late on Tuesday, the Meteorological Agency said. The storm was heading north-east with sustained winds of 144kph.
It is the record eighth typhoon to hit Japan this year. Two other typhoons were downgraded to tropical storms by the time they reached the archipelago.
Tokage, the Japanese word for lizard, is expected to reach the southernmost main island of Kyushu early on Wednesday.
The Meteorological Agency warned that waves of up to 9m could hit coastlines in southern Japan, and as much as 500mm of rain could fall in some parts of Kyushu and Shikoku islands through Wednesday.
Among the six people injured in Okinawa — about 1 600km south-west of Tokyo — were two who had broken fingers, prefectural police spokesperson Tatsuki Yara said. Both had their fingers pinched in doors blown shut by gusts.
Another man had a deep cut on his arm after being knocked off balance by rough waves and sandwiched between two boats he was trying to tie to a dock.
The other three were treated for scrapes and bruises after being tossed to the ground by strong winds, Yara said.
All public schools in Okinawa were closed, and local transportation, including bus and monorail services, was cancelled for the day, he said. About 3 500 houses were without power, according to the Okinawa Electric Power Company.
On Akajima, an island with a population of 1 000 in Okinawa prefecture, about a dozen fishing boats and yachts were swept away from their moorings or sunk by strong tides, prefectural official Chihiro Higa said.
Nearly all commercial flights linking Okinawa and other parts of Japan have been cancelled since Tuesday morning, affecting more than 30 000 passengers, Kyodo News reported.
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