Typhoon Nanmadol, one of the biggest storms to hit Japan in years, killed at least two people. It was packing gusts of up to almost 150mph and had already dumped up to 500mm of rain in less than 24 hours. It caused transport disruptions on Monday. At least 115 people have been injured. The typhoon made landfall in Kagoshima city, which is located on Kyushu, a southern island of Japan. Millions people were told to evacuate, especially in the Kyushu, Shikoku and Chugoku regions ,but the warning was not mandatory. “It will be dangerous to evacuate at night. Please move to safety while it’s still light outside.” Up to 300 mm (11.8 inches) of rain was expected in central Japan’s Tokai region, the nation’s industrial heartland. About 286,000 households were without electricity on Monday afternoon. Landslides were feared.The typhoon forced hundreds of domestic flights to be canceled through Tuesday. It also caused the suspension of trains and buses. At least 20,000 people spent the night in shelters in Kyushu’s Kagoshima and Miyazaki prefectures.
A level-five alert, the highest on Japan’s disaster warning scale, has been issued in some areas. The storm is expected to turn north-east and sweep up across Japan’s main island on Wednesday morning. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida delayed his departure to New York for the U.N. General Assembly. “I postponed my scheduled departure from today to take stock of the damage caused by the typhoon and to take all possible measures for recovery,” Kishida told media.
