Japan’s strongest typhoon of the year has made landfall in the southwest of the country, bringing torrential rain and winds of up to 252 km/h (157 mph), strong enough to destroy homes.
The meteorological agency said Typhoon Shanshan, known in Japan as “Typhoon No. 10,” made landfall on the island of Kyushu around 8 a.m. The power company said 254,610 homes were already without power.
The meteorological agency forecast 1,100 mm of precipitation in southern Kyushu in the 48 hours through Friday morning, about half the annual average for the region, which includes Kagoshima and Miyazaki prefectures.
Authorities have issued a special typhoon warning for most areas of Kagoshima, a prefecture in southern Kyushu. Residents in the risk areas have been urged to remain on high alert, with transport operators and airlines canceling trains and flights.
The risk of major damage is high given Shanshan’s slow speed. The storm is moving north at just 15 km/h, the weather agency said.
Deaths have already been reported in landslides – a major risk in mountainous areas – while tens of thousands of people have been urged to evacuate.
“Typhoon Shanshan is expected to approach southern Kyushu with extremely strong force by Thursday,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters earlier. “Strong winds, high waves and storm surges of a magnitude that many people have never experienced before are expected to occur.”
The approaching storm prompted automaker Toyota to suspend production at its 14 plants. Other major automakers followed suit, according to Kyodo news agency.
Three members of a family died after a landslide buried a house in the central city of Gamagori, Kyodo reported early Thursday, citing local government officials.
The victims included a couple in their 70s and a son in his 30s, while two adult daughters in their 40s were injured, Kyodo added.
The agency also issued its highest “special warning” for severe storms, waves and high tides in parts of the Kagoshima region, with authorities advising 56,000 people to evacuate.
Video footage broadcast by public broadcaster NHK TV showed roof tiles torn off houses, windows smashed and trees felled.
“The roof of our carport was completely blown away. I wasn’t home when it happened, but my children say they felt a shaking so strong they thought it was an earthquake,” a Miyazaki resident told NHK. “I was surprised. It was completely beyond what we could have imagined.”
The warnings said “the possibility of a major disaster caused by (the typhoon) is extremely high,” Satoshi Sugimoto, the weather agency’s chief forecaster, said at a news conference.
Japan Airlines canceled 172 domestic flights and six international flights scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, while ANA canceled 219 domestic flights and four international flights on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
The cancellations affected around 25,000 people.
Kyushu Railway said it would suspend some bullet train services between Kumamoto and Kagoshima Chuo from Wednesday night and warned of further disruptions. Trains between Tokyo and Fukuoka, Kyushu’s most populous city, could also be canceled depending on weather conditions this week, other operators said.
Typhoon Ampil disrupted hundreds of flights and trains this month. Despite heavy rains, it caused only minor damage and injuries.
Ampil arrived days after Tropical Storm Maria brought record rains to northern regions.
Japan has issued special typhoon alerts only three times in the past. The first time was in July 2014, when a strong typhoon brought record waves to the southern prefecture of Okinawa before moving north, killing three people in landslides in Nagano prefecture.
In October 2016, authorities issued a similar warning for the main island of Okinawa. The typhoon moved north over the sea west of the southernmost main island of Kyushu.
The most recent special typhoon warning was in September 2022 – the first time it was issued outside Okinawa Prefecture, according to public broadcaster NHK.
Like the typhoon that made landfall in southwestern Japan on Thursday morning, the storm moved slowly, giving it time to cause extensive damage to homes. Five people died in the disaster.
Typhoons in the region are forming closer to shore, intensifying faster and lasting longer on land because of the climate crisis, according to a study published last month.
Human-induced climate change has increased the frequency of the most intense and destructive tropical cyclones (although their overall annual number has not changed globally). This is because warming oceans provide more energy, which produces stronger storms.
Extreme rainfall from tropical cyclones has increased dramatically because warmer air holds more water vapor. For example, the amount of rainfall produced by Hurricane Harvey in Texas in 2017 would have been virtually impossible without the record-breaking heat of the Gulf of Mexico ocean waters.
Coastal storm surges are also stronger and more destructive due to rising sea levels caused by climate change. For example, the devastating storm surge from Typhoon Haiyan, which hit the Philippines in 2013, was about 20 percent higher due to human-caused climate change.
With Agence France-Presse
