Sunday 30 September 2012

Typhoon Jelawat on course to hit Japan mainland


NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite image taken on September 20, 2012 shows Jelawat formed as a tropical depression over the western Pacific Ocean in Philippines that became a tropical storm the next day. It strengthened to a typhoon on September 23, and then underwent explosive intensification, almost doubling in strength within 12 hours. On September 24, 2012, the U.S. Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) reported that Jelawat was located about 470 miles (760 kilometers) east of Manila in the Philippines.
Image by: HANDOUT / REUTERS

Strong typhoon Jelawat was moving toward the Japanese mainland on Saturday, the national weather agency said, after it battered southern Okinawa island with gusts strong enough to flip cars.

Violent winds up to 234 (146 miles) kilometers per hour have injured at least 51 people in Okinawa, including a man who severed a finger as a door of his house slammed shut due to strong winds, national network NHK said.

The Okinawa Prefecture Police said it had officially recognised at least six cases of typhoon-caused injuries as of Saturday afternoon, adding that the number of injuries could rise above 20.

Okinawa Electric Power said some 220,600 households in the island prefecture have suffered power outage.

Gusts have flipped over cars and blocked streets, adding to traffic chaos that included cancelled flights and ferries.

As of 0500 GMT, the typhoon was located 30 kilometers (19 miles) southwest of Yoronjima island, off Kagoshima prefecture, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

It was moving northeast toward Tokyo at a speed of 30 kilometers per hour, with gusts and heavy rains expected in the Japanese capital on Sunday and Monday, the agency said.

- Times Live

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