Level 5 Landslide Warning Briefly Issued to Southwestern Japan Town

Tokyo, Sept. 5 (Jiji Press)–The Japan Meteorological Agency issued the highest Level 5 emergency landslide warning to the island town of Yakushima in Kagoshima Prefecture, part of the Kyushu southwestern region, at 5:10 a.m. Saturday. From Friday night to early Saturday, the town was hit by heavy rain from linear precipitation zones that developed intermittently due to the effects of Typhoon Krovanh, the 24th typhoon of this year, and a tropical depression. The warning was downgraded to Level 4 at 11:30 a.m. In the Onoaida district of the town, 24-hour rainfall reached 490.5 millimeters until 5:30 a.m., hitting a record high for the area. A maximum instantaneous wind speed of 25.9 meters per second was registered shortly after 12:30 a.m. Saturday. The Cabinet Office said Saturday that the Kagoshima prefectural government has decided to apply the disaster relief law to Yakushima. Costs, including for setting up evacuation centers, will be covered by the central and prefectural governments. At 3 p.m. Saturday, Typhoon Krovanh was traveling south-southeast over the sea near Naha, the capital of the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa, at a speed of 25 kilometers per hour. It had a central atmospherical pressure of 992 hectopascals, registering a maximum sustained wind speed of 18 meters per second and a maximum instantaneous wind speed of 25 meters per second. Wind speeds were 15 meters per second or more in areas within about 440 km northwest and 280 km southeast of the center of the typhoon. Meanwhile, a front near the Pacific coast of eastern and western Japan is forecast to gradually move to the north after remaining almost static through Sunday. Warm and moist air is expected to flow from the typhoon and a tropical depression south of Japan, possibly bringing heavy rain to the Pacific side of the country toward Monday. The meteorological agency called for a high level of caution against landslides, flooding of low-lying areas and swollen rivers. In the 24 hours through 6 p.m. Sunday, rainfall is forecast to reach up to 200 millimeters in the Tokai central region, up to 180 millimeters in the southern part of the Kyushu region, up to 150 millimeters in Okinawa, the Kinki western region and the Kanto-Koshin eastern to central regions, up to 120 millimeters in the Shikoku western region and up to 80 millimeters in the Amami Islands region of Kagoshima. In the following 24 hours through 6 p.m. Monday, the maximum amount of rain is forecast at 300 millimeters in Tokai, 200 millimeters in Kanto-Koshin, Kinki, Shikoku and the Tohoku northeastern region, and 120 millimeters in southern Kyushu. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]