Residents of Japan's southwestern islands were warned of high winds and rain through the weekend once a nearly stationary Typhoon Khanun starts moving back east later Friday.
The forecast U-turn will bring Khanun across Okinawa and nearby islands that were already lashed by its winds and rain earlier this week.
Khanun had sustained surface winds of 126 kph (78 mph) with higher gusts Friday morning, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. Up to 15 centimeters (5.9 inches) of rain was expected in the Okinawa region by Saturday and up to 30 centimeters (11.8 inches) in the Amami region, an island group belonging to the southern main island of Kyushu, by Sunday, JMA said.
Khanun had been stronger, with sustained winds of 180 kph (111 mph), when it crossed the islands Tuesday, damaging homes and knocking out power. The Okinawa prefectural government said 44 people were injured, three of them seriously. Two deaths were being investigated as typhoon-caused but are not in the official death toll.
The storm at one point left nearly 220,000 homes, or about 30%, of those in Okinawa, without power, according to the Okinawa Electric Power Company. By Friday morning, about 50,000 still lacked electricity, according to the Economy and Industry Ministry.
Okinawa's airport was packed with passengers stranded since earlier this week. About 80 Hong Kong travelers had been stuck in a hotel that lost Wednesday, said Steve Huen, executive director of Hong Kong-based travel agency EGL Tours. He said 26 of them flew home Thursday, and the rest of the group were to leave Friday.
Khanun's reversal will take it away from China, where rain from an earlier typhoon caused severe flooding this week around Beijing.
AP journalists Johnson Lai in Keelung, Taiwan, Simina Mistreanu in Taipei, Taiwan, Kanis Leung in Hong Kong, and AP researchers Bing Yu and Wanqing Chen in Beijing contributed to this report.
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11 Comments
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buua
Dear JT, in Japan each typhoon has a number. On TV, they never use names. Would you kindly write the number of the typhoon next to the name? After all JT stands for Japan Today. Thanks.
WA4TKG
Stay off the roof
Yubaru
Dear buua-chan, you are wrong about TV "never" using names. They will use the number, but the names are more often than not, included as well!
Harry_Gatto
https://www.jma.go.jp/jma/jma-eng/jma-center/rsmc-hp-pub-eg/tyname.html
Mark
Didn't know Typhoons are allowed to make a U Turn, I have the feeling that may be China bombarded it's eye and forced it back towards the U.S base, LOL
falseflagsteve
Stay safe guys
3RENSHO
"About 80 Hong Kong travelers had been stuck in a hotel that lost Wednesday..." Lost Wednesday? Lost Wednesday what?
Yubaru
I'll tell ya, for quite a few folks it sure feels like we "lost" Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, today and possibly tomorrow this week! I have friends who have been without power for 5 days now, and that also means they have no water either, as the apartments they live in, need electricity to operate the pumps, so it's really been an problem for many.
I have some elderly friends who live on the 10th and 12th floor of a building that has no electricity, and with no water, and no elevator, they are effectively trapped. Fortunately their families and neighbors have helped them out, and they are fine, but there are plenty of others who literally have to wait it out.
Speed
Feels like we're losing most of our hot sunny summer to a super long wet and humid rainy season.
It'll continue raining through to the end of next week.
3RENSHO
Yubaru: typographical errors aside, I sympathize with your elderly friends trapped without water and air-conditioning. Let's all hope that Typhoon #6 makes a quick exit and bypasses Shikoku...!