Powerful typhoon on course to strike eastern Japan over weekend
Typhoon Hagibis is expected to approach the region from Friday evening and make landfall later, before passing east of the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido on Sunday afternoon, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency, Kyodo News reports.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe instructed Cabinet members at a morning meeting to take necessary measures to deal with the typhoon, the season's 19th.
Up to 800 millimeters of rain is expected in central Japan's Tokai region and 600 mm in the Kanto-Koshin region, including the Tokyo metropolitan area, in the 24-hour period through Sunday morning, the agency said.
As of 6 a.m., the typhoon was traveling north-northwestward at a speed of 25 kilometers per hour west of Chichijima Island in the Pacific with an atmospheric pressure of 925 hectopascals at its center, packing winds of up to 252 kph.
On Thursday, train operators and airlines said they plan to or may suspend services in eastern and western Japan this weekend because of the typhoon.