Abrar Hussain
A powerful typhoon battered Japan’s southern island of Okinawa yesterday, injuring at least 17, as weather officials warned the storm would tear through the Japanese archipelago this weekend.
The Category-2 Typhoon Trami, with maximum wind speeds of 216 kilometres per hour near its centre, is forecast to hit the mainland early today and could cause extreme weather across the country into tomorrow.
Television footage showed branches being ripped from trees by strong winds and blocking streets, while massive waves splashed on breakwaters on remote islands in the region and torrential horizontal rain.
Almost 700 people were evacuated to shelters in Okinawa, about 1000km southwest of Tokyo, and electricity was cut to more than 200,000 homes; 17 people suffered minor injuries in storm-related accidents while several houses suffered heavy damage. Fortunately, no one has been declared dead as of writing this report on Saturday.
Motoki Minei, an official at the island’s disaster-management office warned, “The number may rise as we are still collecting information.”
“We are urging our residents to stay vigilant against the typhoon,” he told AFP.
Trami also caused power outages in more than 30 towns in Miyakojima, according to public broadcaster NHK. Airlines had cancelled more than 380 flights as the weather agency warned people across Japan to be on alert for “violent winds, high waves, heavy rain.”
After smiting the outlying island yesterday, Trami is forecast to speed up and set its sights on western Japan today, remaining very strong as it barrels over the mainland.
-Source: News AU