A large and powerful typhoon — which has rapidly intensified and gained the Meteorological Agency's highest classification of "violent" — prompted the agency to issue a rare special warning for Kagoshima Prefecture, meaning a large-scale disaster could be imminent in the southwestern prefecture.
Typhoon Nanmadol — on par with a Category 5 hurricane in strength — is forecast to reach the island of Kyushu this weekend and then curve northeast over Japan's main islands, delivering unprecedented winds, waves and storm surges to some areas.
The storm could make landfall in southern Kyushu as early as Sunday night, with the weather agency predicting only a slight weakening on its approach. The agency urged those in affected areas to take precautions or evacuate before high winds begin and before nightfall Saturday.
The special warnings, issued when forecasts call for conditions seen only once in a few decades, had never been issued outside of Okinawa Prefecture.
At a news conference on Saturday, a weather agency official referred to two previous strong storms that had a major impact on Japan's main islands — 2018's Typhoon Jebi, which hit the Kansai region and left 14 people dead, and 2019's Typhoon Hagibis, which slammed into the Kanto region, which includes Tokyo, and caused widespread power outages.
For Kyushu, at least, the official said the impact of Nanmadol has the potential to be worse.
The agency warned of high waves, storm surge, landslides, flooding and overflowing rivers. It said winds could be so strong in areas like southern Kyushu that some homes would be at risk of collapse, urging residents to stay in sturdy buildings and stay away from windows. It also warned of so-called linear precipitation zones, which can bring heavy rainfall for long periods to the same areas and lead to disasters.
"If the storm maintains this intensity as forecast, it will make landfall as one of the top five strongest storms to strike western Japan on record," said Robert Speta, a typhoon expert who previously worked as a meteorologist in Japan. He said Nanmadol was the strongest tropical system anywhere on the planet so far this year.
As of Saturday afternoon, Nanmadol was about 170 kilometers east-northeast of Minami-Daito island and moving northwest at 20 kph, the meteorological agency said. It was carrying winds near its center of 198 kph and gusts of up to 270 kph, with a central pressure of 910 hectopascals.
"It has entered an area very favorable for rapid intensification east of Okinawa," Speta said, adding that above-average sea-surface temperatures have helped the storm strengthen.
The weather agency said the storm would near the Amami Islands by Saturday night and then Kyushu, staying in the area through Sunday before curving northeast and moving over Japan's main island of Honshu.
The city of Kagoshima advised about 34,000 people to evacuate, NHK said, while ANA Holdings and and Japan Airlines have begun canceling flights to and from Okinawa and Kyushu, with a broader region set to be affected on Sunday and Monday, according to the company websites. Train services in the region are also expected to face severe delays and cancellations from Saturday to Tuesday, JR Kyushu said on its website.
Heavy rain was also forecast to hit a wide area of Japan. Areas in Kyushu could see up to 500 millimeters of rainfall in the 24 hours to 12 p.m. Sunday, with up to 300 millimeters possible in Shikoku and the Tokai region, the agency said.
"There is a risk that a wide area from western to northern Japan will be affected by the typhoon," the agency said in a statement released Saturday morning.
Information from Bloomberg added.
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