A powerful typhoon is heading toward Okinawa Prefecture and may bring heavy rain to a wide area of Japan over the long weekend, the Meteorological Agency said Thursday.
The weather agency warned of strong winds, lightning strikes and heavy downpours. It will arrive about a week after Typhoon Trami traversed the archipelago. The powerful storm killed four, left some areas without power and greatly disrupted transportation networks.
Typhoon Kong-rey, the season's 25th, is forecast to approach Okinawa on Friday and then travel north toward the Korean Peninsula before reaching parts of the Sea of Japan coast and northern Japan over the weekend.
As of noon Thursday the typhoon was traveling north-northwest about 250 kilometers east-southeast of Miyako Island at a speed of 20 km per hour and with an atmospheric pressure of 960 hectopascals at its center. It was packing winds of up to 198 kph.
Okinawa was forecast to see torrential rain of up to 200 millimeters in the 24 hours to noon Friday, while southern Kyushu and the Amami island chain could see rain of up to 150 mm.