Over two million people involved, risk of landslides and floods
Bad weather warning in Japan with the expected simultaneous arrival of two typhoons, a dynamic that led the civil protection to issue evacuation orders for over two million people in thirteen prefectures of the Kinki and Kyushu regions, on the south-western side of the archipelago. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) has warned of the risk of landslides, floods and strong winds along the Pacific Rim.
Typhoon Higos, after touching the areas surrounding Tokyo on Saturday morning, weakened to become a tropical depression. The trajectory of Mekkhala, which on Friday was in the waters off the coast of Kume Island, in Okinawa Prefecture, appears more treacherous, moving north-east at about 15 kilometers per hour, and which could touch land in the Kanto region over the weekend. The JMA expects both systems to transform into extratropical cyclones, but maintains the highest level of alert. The precipitation accumulated in the areas already affected reaches exceptional values: 600 millimeters fell between Tuesday and Friday morning in Goto, in Nagasaki prefecture; over 500 mm recorded in Kumamoto and Saga prefectures. For the next few hours, the JMA estimates up to 300 mm in the Tokai region by Saturday noon and up to 250 mm in the Kanto-Koshin area, which includes Tokyo, by Sunday morning. On the damage front, one person is missing and several injured in Yamaguchi prefecture, where a landslide caused the collapse of a house. Disruptions also for mobility: the railway operator JR Central has announced possible cancellations and delays on the Tokaido Shinkansen line, the high-speed railway that connects Tokyo to Osaka, starting from Saturday morning.
