Heavy Rain Emergency Warning Temporarily Issued for Hachijojima

Tokyo, Oct. 9 (Jiji Press)–The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a heavy rain emergency warning for the remote Tokyo island of Hachijojima in the Izu Island chain in the Pacific at 6:20 a.m. Thursday. The agency downgraded the special warning to a warning at 2:30 p.m. After the special warning was issued, the town of Hachijo, which covers the island, issued an alert urging residents to take emergency safety measures, the highest level in the five-tier alert system. A linear precipitation zone occurred in the southern part of the Izu Island chain as Typhoon Halong moved northeast and passed near Aogashima, one of the Izu Islands, at around 5 a.m. The JMA downgraded its emergency warnings for strong winds and high waves that had been issued for seven municipalities on the Izu Islands, excluding Oshima, to less urgent warnings before noon. “The risk of disasters has risen sharply as a developed rain area near the center of the typhoon has reached Hachijojima,” Shuichi Tachihara, director of the agency’s Forecast Division, told a press conference. High levels of rainfall have been reported on Hachijojima, with hourly precipitation through 6 a.m. reaching 92.0 millimeters. A total of 349.0 millimeters was logged in the 12 hours through 10:30 a.m., the highest at the site since records began. The island logged a maximum instantaneous wind speed of 54.7 meters per second at around 5:25 a.m. At 11 a.m., the 22nd typhoon of the year was moving east-northeast at 30 kilometers per hour over the sea about 180 km east of Hachijojima. It had a central atmospheric pressure of 940 hectopascals, a maximum wind speed of 50 meters per second and a maximum instantaneous wind speed of 70 meters per second. Wind speeds are at least 25 meters per second within a 165 km radius of the storm, and at least 15 meters per second within 390 km on the eastern side and 330 km on the western side. Meanwhile, Typhoon Nakri, the 23rd typhoon of the year, may approach the main island of Okinawa Prefecture, southernmost Japan, as well as Kagoshima Prefecture’s Amami Oshima island and the southern part of the Kyushu southwestern region around Saturday and Sunday. It is expected to move northeast over waters to the south of mainland Japan toward Tuesday. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]