Typhoon Nanmadol, called an “unprecedented storm”, touched down on the southwestern coast of Japan. The local meteorological agency reported, while the authorities urged millions of people to seek shelter from rain and wind. “The eye of Typhoon Nanmadol landed near the city of Kagoshima around 19:00 (12 in Italy) on Sunday,” reads a brief note on the agency’s website.
Over 4 million people have been ordered to evacuate: the directives were released at 11 local time today (4 in Italy), confirms the public broadcaster NHK. The alarm at a level of 4 on a maximum alert scale of 5 concerns 4,030,000 residents belonging to 1.94 million households in various locations in the region, which have experienced torrential rains, violent storm surges and gusts of wind up to 250 kilometers per hour, with the prefectures of Kagoshima and Miyazaki being most affected. This morning, the country’s two main airlines, Ana and Japan Airlines, had suspended over 500 flights and Shinkansen super-fast train services were canceled between Hakata and Kumamoto. According to the National Meteorological Agency (JMA), the region south of Kyushu is expected to rain at least 600 mm of rain in the 24 hours until Monday morning.