A “very strong” typhoon hit Tokyo and the eastern Pacific coast of the archipelago on Friday, causing the cancellation of more than 650 flights and numerous trains as well as power cuts.
The day after the lifting of a “mega-earthquake” alert, in effect for a week, Japan has this time been hit by a typhoon described as “very strong” by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), one notch below its highest category of “severe typhoon”.
At 4 p.m. (7 a.m. GMT), Ampil was located about 170 km south of Tokyo, with wind gusts of up to 216 km/h, and was sliding along the coast towards the north/northeast of the archipelago, the JMA said.
Authorities have warned people of heavy rain and strong gusts of wind.
The JMA warned that the coastal prefecture of Chiba, east of Tokyo, “should be on high alert due to the risk of strong waves, landslides and flooding.”
The Fire and Disaster Management Agency has urged more than 18,000 people to evacuate in the department.
By late Friday afternoon, no casualties or major damage had been reported. Television channels showed images of fallen trees and flooded roads, as well as large waves on the coasts.
The typhoon’s core is expected to remain over the sea, however, with the weather system tracking along the coast around Greater Tokyo, home to nearly 40 million people, overnight Friday before turning east and heading back toward the Pacific Saturday morning.
The U.S. military’s Typhoon Warning Center estimated winds of 195 km/h with gusts exceeding 240 km/h around 3 a.m. local time Saturday (1800 GMT Friday) off the coast of Chiba.
As of Friday afternoon, more than 2,000 homes in prefectures surrounding Tokyo, including Chiba, were without power due to the typhoon, according to the utility operator, half as many as in the morning.
Japanese airline ANA canceled 281 domestic and 54 international flights scheduled for Friday, affecting more than 72,000 passengers, while Japan Airlines scrapped 361 flights affecting about 57,000 customers.
ANA is already predicting around thirty cancellations for Saturday.
Important holiday week
Traffic on major sections of Japan’s Shinkansen bullet trains is also expected to be halted on Friday, including the busy stretch between Tokyo and the central metropolis of Nagoya.
Both of Disney’s theme parks, Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea, have closed.
The typhoon comes as Japan celebrates the week-long “obon” holiday, when millions of people return to their families, and days after Tropical Storm Maria dumped record rains in parts of the north.
“We will monitor the news on the Internet and if the typhoon seems to pass without any problems, we will go out,” Isamu Teruya, 47, a Japanese tourist who arrived in Tokyo on Thursday, told AFP. “And if the rain is really heavy, we will stay in a hotel and rest.”
Japan is regularly hit by major typhoons that can cause deadly landslides.
Typhoons in the region are increasingly forming closer to shore, intensifying more quickly than before and staying on land longer because of climate change, according to a joint scientific study released last month.
Researchers from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, Rowan University and the University of Pennsylvania in the United States analyzed and modeled “more than 64,000 historical and future storms from the 19th centurye century at the end of the 21st centurye century” to reach these conclusions, according to a press release.