Japan has already had a horrible year when it comes to disasters. The tremendous Fukushima earthquakes, tsunami, and nuclear meltdowns were more than any country should have to deal with. Now, unfortunately, it is about to be slammed with a potentially deadly typhoon, Typhoon Roke.
The typhoon has had winds of about 115 mph (or 185 kph) and is supposed to hit land sometime on Wednesday.
“About 80,000 residents have been ordered to flee and more than 1 million people were urged to evacuate Nagoya, a city in central Japan, Tuesday as a typhoon was expected to hit the area,” CNN reports.
“The storm was expected to hit south of Osaka and could drench some areas with about 250 mm (10 inches) of rain….”
With the Shonai River expected to flood, areas of Nagoya have been ordered to evacuate. Landslides and flash flooding are also concerns in the region.
Here’s more from The Mainichi Daily News:
On Sunday, violent storms occurred in Okinawa and Kyushu Island in southwestern Japan, with precipitation of 67.5 millimeters per hour in Okinawa’s Kitadaito Island and 56.0 mm in Gokase, a record for September in the Miyazaki Prefecture town.
In northeastern Japan, Aomori and Akita prefectures recorded over 20 mm of rainfall.
As of 8 p.m. [Monday, September 19], the typhoon with an atmospheric pressure of 975 hectopascals was located around 80 kilometers northwest of Minamidaito Island and was moving slowly northward, bringing strong winds of up to 162 km per hour, the weather agency said.
Not many had evacuated as of Tuesday afternoon in Japan (only about 60), but tens of thousands should as the storm gets closer.
Climate scientists have been warning us for awhile that with global warming will come more powerful hurricanes/typhoons/cyclones and other storms. Let’s hope all the people of Japan survive and do not suffer too much in this one, and let’s work to make this less of a threat in the future.
Action items:
Image Credit: NASA
