Japan issues special warning over Typhoon Nanmadol; thousands shifted to safe locations

On Sunday, the authorities shifted thousands of people to shelters as powerful Typhoon Nanmadol advanced towards the region.

According to the AFP report, by Sunday as many as 25,680 households in Kagoshima and neighbouring Miyazaki were already without power.

Regional train services, flights and ferry runs were also cancelled until the passage of the storm, local utilities and transport services said, the report added.

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) had said on Saturday that it was ready to issue a special typhoon warning for some areas in the country's southwestern region of Kyushu as an "unprecedented" storm is expected to approach.

Typhoon Nanmadol is expected to bring record rain to the prefecture and nearby areas with its expected landfall in Typhoon Nanmadol, with the weather agency calling for maximum vigilance as damaging winds and high waves are expected, possibly triggering landslides and flooding.

"Maximum caution is required," Ryuta Kurora, head of the JMA's forecast unit said on Saturday, according to the AFP report. "It's a very dangerous typhoon."

"The wind will be so fierce that some houses might collapse," Kurora told reporters, also warning of flooding and landslides.

So far, 2.9 million residents in Kyushu have been issued evacuation warnings, according to the government's Fire and Disaster Management Agency.

The director of forecasts at the weather agency Ryuta Kurora said that the typhoon had rapidly intensified since Friday night and become a dangerous storm something people have never experienced before, said the AFP report.

As of Saturday morning, Nanmadol, rated as large in scale and violent, was about 200 kilometers east of Minamidaito island and moving northwest at 10 kilometers per hour.

It was carrying winds near its center of 198 kilometers per hour with maximum gusts of up to 270 kilometers per hour, with an atmospheric pressure of 910 hectopascals at its center.

Japan is currently in typhoon season and faces around 20 such storms a year, routinely seeing heavy rains that cause landslides or flash floods, said the AFP report.

In 2019, Japan endured Typhoon Hagibis while it hosted the Rugby World Cup. Over 100 people were killed in the typhoon.

A year before, authorities had to shut down Kansai Airport in Osaka due to Typhoon Jebi, which killed 14 people.

In 2018,  more than 200 people were killed in floods and landslides in western Japan during the country's annual rainy season.