The strongest typhoon to hit Japan in 25 years made landfall Tuesday (4), the country’s weather agency said, bringing violent winds and heavy rainfall that prompted evacuation warnings.
Typhoon Jebi, packing winds of up to 216kmh, made landfall around midday in western Japan near areas still recovering from deadly record rains earlier this summer.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urged people to “evacuate early” and ordered his government to take all necessary measures to protect residents.
Japan’s weather agency has issued warnings about possible landslides, flooding and violent winds, as well as high tides, lightning and tornadoes in a swath of western Japan including the major cities of Osaka and Kyoto.
With winds of up to 162kmh at its centre, Jebi is classed as a “very strong” typhoon, the weather agency’s chief forecaster Ryuta Kurora told AFP.
“This is (the strongest) since 1993.”
In the hours before the storm made landfall, Shikoku, one of four Japanese main islands, was already experiencing “violent storms and the storms will get stronger and stronger,” he added.
As the storm approached, Abe called a disaster response meeting and cancelled a trip to western Japan.
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