Typhoon Jangmi Forecast to Cross Okinawa’s Main Island

Tokyo, June 1 (Jiji Press)–Typhoon Jangmi swept north with a violent wind zone toward the main island of the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa on Monday morning. The sixth typhoon of the year is expected to pass through Okinawa’s main island on Monday night and near Kagoshima Prefecture’s Amami Oshima island on Tuesday morning, likely bringing destructive winds, high waves and torrential rain there. The Japan Meteorological Agency urged residents to avoid nonessential travel and remain on high alert. In the city of Naha, the capital of Okinawa, a maximum instantaneous wind speed of 30.7 meters per second was recorded shortly past 7:15 a.m. Monday. The typhoon is forecast to track eastward from off the southern part of the Kyushu region in southwestern Japan toward off the Kii Peninsula in western Japan and off the Kanto region in eastern Japan through Wednesday night. A seasonal front extending north of the typhoon is expected to intensify rainfall across the Pacific side of western and eastern Japan, bringing intermittent downpours. The agency warned of possible landslides, flooding in low-lying areas and swollen rivers. As of 9 a.m. Monday, the typhoon was located about 210 kilometers south of Naha and moving north at 15 kilometers per hour. It had a central atmospheric pressure of 975 hectopascals, a maximum wind speed of 30 meters per second and a maximum instantaneous wind speed of 45 meters per second. Rainfall in the 24 hours through 6 a.m. Tuesday is forecast to reach as much as 300 millimeters in southern Kyushu, Amami and Okinawa, 100 millimeters in northern Kyushu and the Chugoku western region and 80 millimeters in the Shikoku western region. Subsequently, 24-hour rainfall to 6 a.m. Wednesday is expected to reach up to 400 millimeters in the Tokai central region, up to 300 millimeters in the Kinki and Shikoku western regions and in southern Kyushu and Amami, up to 200 millimeters in northern Kyushu and up to 100 millimeters in the Kanto-Koshin eastern and central region and 80 millimeters in the Chugoku region. For the 24-hour period to 6 a.m. on Thursday, rainfall is expected to reach up to 200 millimeters in the Kanto-Koshin region and the Tokai central region. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]