Typhoon Chan-hom Expected to Make Landfall near Tokyo

Tokyo, Aug. 11 (Jiji Press)–Typhoon Chan-hom is expected to make a landfall around the eastern Japan prefecture of Ibaraki, near Tokyo, on Tuesday night. The Japan Meteorological Agency called for caution against violent winds, high waves and heavy rain mainly in the coastal area of the Kanto region, including Ibaraki and Tokyo, and the Tohoku northeastern region. At 3 p.m., the 15th typhoon of the year was traveling west-southwest at a speed of 30 kilometers per hour over the sea about 130 km east of Mito, Ibaraki’s capital, according to the agency. With a central atmospheric pressure of 980 hectopascals, the typhoon recorded a maximum wind speed of 25 meters per second and a maximum instantaneous wind speed of 35 meters per second. After the landfall, the typhoon is expected to cross the Honshu main island westward and turn into a tropical cyclone before reaching the sea off the coast of the Sanin region in western Japan. Around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, maximum instantaneous wind speeds of 23.7 meters per second were recorded in Ishinomaki, a Miyagi Prefecture city in Tohoku, and 19.7 meters per second in Kitaibaraki, Ibaraki. In Kuji, an Iwate Prefecture city in Tohoku, 121.5 millimeters of rain fell during the 12 hours to 3:20 p.m. Flights were canceled at Haneda and Narita airports in Tokyo and neighboring Chiba Prefecture. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]