A typhoon was moving northward Thursday west of Okinawa's Yonaguni Island and was expected to turn east and approach Kyushu around Saturday, possibly making landfall, the Meteorological Agency said.
The agency issued a warning for high winds and storm surges in the Sakishima Islands. Monitor stations measured winds reaching 120 kph on Yonaguni Island and gusts of up to 85 kph on Ishigaki Island to the east.
Typhoon Kong-rey, the 15th of the season, was expected to move away from the Sakishima Islands as it continued north.
As of 6 p.m. Thursday, Kong-rey was around 220 km north-northwest of Yonaguni, moving north-northwest at an approximate speed of 15 kph, with an atmospheric pressure at its center of 996 hectopascals.
It was packing winds of up to 65 kph, and causing gusts of 90 kph.