Lagatar24 Desk
Tokyo, Sept 19: Typhoon Nanmadol, which made landfall in Japan overnight, was bringing strong winds and a lot of rain on Monday, forcing millions of residents to evacuate.
The powerful system, which made landfall over Kagoshima city in the southwest area of Kyushu on Sunday evening, has since lessened, but it nevertheless uprooted trees, shattered windows, and left rivers nearly at capacity.
As the typhoon moved over Kyushu, one person was killed and 50 others were injured, according to national broadcaster NHK. The figures were not immediately confirmed by the authorities.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will postpone his travel by one day to check on storm damage, according to his office. He was supposed to leave on Monday for the UN General Assembly.
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a warning that river levels in Miyazaki prefecture were high because certain locations there received more rain in a single day than they typically do in the entire month of September.
“Even a tiny amount of additional rainfall could cause the water level to increase, so please remain vigilant about flooding and landslides,” said Yoshiyuki Toyoguchi from the land ministry.
However, despite the storm’s strength, which included gusts of up to 234 km/h (145 mph), damage thus far has been very minor.
“The typhoon has all but disappeared today and the rain and wind are also subsiding now,” an official in charge of crisis management in Miyazaki’s Saito city told AFP.