Typhoon Hagibis to Land in Japan Soon; One Dead, 10 Injured

October 12, 2019

Tokyo- Very strong Typhoon Hagibis is expected to land in Shizuoka Prefecture in central Japan or the Kanto eastern region including Tokyo on Saturday evening or night, already causing violent winds and record-breaking rains in many areas in the Tokai region including Shizuoka and Kanto.

The Japan Meteorological Agency urged residents in areas affected by the 19th typhoon of this year to be alert for landslides, flooding and other hazardous situations, and to act to ensure safety.

At 3:30 p.m. (6:30 a.m. GMT), the agency issued special heavy rain warnings to Tokyo and six prefectures--Gunma, Saitama, Kanagawa, Yamanashi, Shizuoka and Nagano. It is the first time for any of these areas to face such heavy rain alerts.

Municipalities covered by the special warnings included the cities of Hachioji and Machida in Tokyo, the cities of Honjo and Chichibu in Saitama, the cities of Sagamihara and Odawara in Kanagawa, and the cities of Atami and Izu in Shizuoka. The agency issues a special warning when serious disasters are imminent or have already occurred.

In the city of Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, on Saturday, a light truck overturned due to a gust of wind, and a man inside the vehicle died after being sent to a hospital. As of noon, one person was seriously injured in Kanagawa, and a total of nine people suffered minor injuries in Chiba, Yamanashi, Shizuoka, Yamaguchi and Tokushima prefectures, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.

The meteorological agency has pointed to the possibility of issuing special heavy rain warnings for Kanto and the Tokai central region, saying that Typhoon Hagibis could be as powerful as Kanogawa Typhoon in 1958, which caused numerous landslides and floods in Japan after landing in Kanto and left more than 1,200 people dead or missing. The 1958 typhoon is known by the name as many lost their lives due to the flooding of Kanogawa, or the Kano River, in the Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka.

Rainfall in the 24 hours to 2:20 p.m. Saturday amounted to 650.5 millimeters in Hakone, Kanagawa, an all-time high for the town, known as one of the most popular hot spring resorts in Japan.

The Yugashima district in the city of Izu in Shizuoka had a rainfall of 592 millimeters in the same 24 hours, a record high there for October.

Sediment disaster warnings were issued for Tokyo, and the prefectures of Fukushima, Gunma, Tochigi, Saitama, Kanagawa, Yamanashi, Nagano, Shizuoka, Mie and Nara. Evacuation orders and advisories were issued for many locations.

As of 2 p.m. Saturday, Typhoon Hagibis was traveling north-northeast over the Pacific Ocean at a point some 160 kilometers south-southwest of the city of Shimoda in Shizuoka at a speed of 30 kilometers per hour, according to the meteorological agency. Its central atmospheric pressure stood at 945 hectopascals, with a maximum sustained wind speed of 45 meters per second and the maximum instantaneous wind speed of 60 meters.

The super typhoon is expected to move into areas off the Tohoku northeastern region after crossing Kanto toward early Sunday. Jiji Press