Umamah Bakharia | ub@radioislam.co.za

5min read
18 September 2022
09:30 am CAT

Japan is bracing itself for deadly Typhoon Nanmadol after a “special warning” was issued by Japan’s Meteorological Agency (JMA) urging nearly 2 million residents to make their way to safety.

According to national broadcaster NHK, the powerful storm is expected on Sunday as level four evacuation instructions have been given to the people of the Kagoshima, Kumamoto and Miyazaki in the southern Kyushu region.

“There are risks of unprecedented storms, high waves, storm surges, and record rainfall,” Ryuta Kurora, the head of the Japan Meteorological Agency’s forecast unit, told reporters.

Adding that “Maximum caution is required.”

A warning like this has not been issued by the agency in several decades.

This will be the first typhoon-linked special warning issued outside of the Okinawa region since the current system began in 2013.

Meanwhile, Typhoon Nanmadol has been classed at the agency’s top category of “violent”, and was expected to come at a speed of up to 270km/hour about 200km north-northeast of Minami Daito island, part of a string of remote isles that form the Okinawa region.

The typhoon is expected to make landfall on Sunday in the Kagoshima region and then move towards north the following day before heading towards Japan’s main island.