A powerful typhoon buffeted Japan’s eastern coast yesterday evening, prompting local authorities to issue early evacuation orders, with western areas recently devastated by floods and landslides in the storm’s crosshairs.
Typhoon Jongdari, packing winds of up to 180km (110 miles) an hour, is forecast to make landfall on the country’s main island yesterday night or early today, according to Japan’s
Meteorological Agency.
TV footage showed high waves smashing onto rocks and seawalls on the eastern coastline and planes struggling to land amid strong winds.
By 9pm (1200 GMT) the storm’s centre was located some 60km out to sea southeast of Omaezaki City.
Kyodo news agency reported that one man was missing in Kanagawa Prefecture, near Tokyo, after several vehicles, including an ambulance, became stuck on a wave-battered
ocean road.
Typhoon Jongdari is expected to barrel towards the western Chugoku region Sunday, where record rainfall earlier this month unleashed flooding and landslides, killing around 220 people and leaving more than 4,000 survivors still living in
temporary shelters.
The weather agency warned of heavy rain, landslides, strong winds and high waves, and urged people to consider early
evacuation.
“We want people especially in the downpour-hit regions to pay close attention to evacuation advisories,” meteorological agency official Minako Sakurai told reporters.
The western city of Shobara in Hiroshima prefecture issued an evacuation order to some 36,400 residents as a precautionary measure, officials said.
TV footage showed workers and residents hurriedly piling up sandbags to build temporary barriers against potential floods.
“Although it has not rained here, we are urging people to evacuate before it gets dark,” Masaharu Kataoka, a city
official, said.
More evacuation orders and advisories were issued in western Japan, including Kure in Hiroshima prefecture, where some 6,380 residents were urged to evacuate, news reports said.
In Japan, evacuation orders are not mandatory and people often remain at home, and are later trapped by rapidly rising water or sudden landslides.
“It’s going to deal a double punch,” a resident in Okayama told public broadcaster NHK, referring to the recent killer downpours and the incoming typhoon. “We are seriously
worried,” he said.
More than 410 domestic flights have been cancelled so far because of Typhoon Jongdari, while ferry services connecting Tokyo with nearby islands were also cancelled due to high waves, news reports said.
The flooding in the Chugoku region was Japan’s worst weather-related disaster in decades, and many residents of affected areas are still living in shelters or damaged homes.
“We are fully ready 24 hours a day to evacuate residents,” Tadahiko Mizushima, an official of Okayama prefecture in Chugoku, said.
“We are paying special attention to the areas where restoration of river banks is underway as it would be the first heavy rain since the disaster.”
Officials are particularly cautious after the deadly downpours because many people did not heed evacuation orders and became trapped. Some critics said the orders were issued too late.
Passersby using umbrellas struggle against a heavy rain and wind as Typhoon Jongdari approaches Japan’s mainland in Tokyo yesterday.
