Japan – More than four million evacuated in Japan due to the arrival of an «unprecedented» typhoon.

Daniel Stewart - 7h ago

At least 4,030,000 people from 1.94 million households have been ordered to evacuate on the Japanese island of Kiushu, in the southwest of the archipelago, due to the arrival of typhoon 'Nanmadol', an "unprecedented" storm, according to Japanese authorities.


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Local authorities have issued a Level 5 alert, the highest on the Japanese disaster alert scale, in Kiushu as well as in the prefectures of Kagoshima and Miyazaki, according to Japanese public television, NHK. In the latter two areas, more than 110,000 people in 55,000 households have been alerted.

Japan's meteorological agency has issued a special warning on Sunday for an "unprecedented" typhoon because of the imminent danger of flooding, river flooding and landslides.

The typhoon, which is expected to make landfall on Monday and has been named 'Nanmadol', could bring "unprecedented storms, high waves and storm surges," the Japanese weather agency said in a statement.

"Be very cautious of storms, high waves and storm surges. In addition, the south and north of (the island of) Kiushu are likely to experience record torrential rainfall, so be on the lookout for landslides, lowland flooding, rising rivers and flooding," Japanese authorities have warned.

Specifically, on the island of Kiushu, rainfall records from 400 to 600 millimeters are expected in just 24 hours. In the prefectures of Tokai and Kinki --both in central Japan-- rainfall of 300 and 250 millimeters, respectively, is expected.

However, although the typhoon, the 14th this season in the region, had weakened by 3 a.m. (local time) Sunday, there is still the possibility of gusts of 250 kilometers per hour, the Kyodo agency reported. Winds of up to 156 kilometers per hour have already been recorded on the island of Yakushima.

Many flights have been canceled in the southern part of Japan, as have bullet train services between Hiroshima City Station and Hakata. The frequency of trains between Hiroshima and Osaka in central Japan has also been reduced.