Powerful Typhoon Slamming Japan's Southwest
A large and very strong typhoon is battering Japan's southwest.
Typhoon Haishen is expected to draw very close to the southern main island of Kyushu through Monday morning. Authorities are calling on people to stay on the highest alert and evacuate promptly if advised to do so.
Weather officials say that at 11 p.m. on Sunday, Typhoon Haishen was 100 kilometers west of Makurazaki City, Kagoshima Prefecture. They say it was moving north-northwest at 30 kilometers per hour.
Haishen has a central atmospheric pressure of 945 hectopascals. The typhoon is packing maximum winds of 162 kilometers per hour near its center -- and gusts of up to 216 kilometers per hour.
Officials are warning of potentially record rainfall, unprecedented wind, high tides and large ocean swells.
Heavy rain is falling in southern Kyushu. More than 500 millimeters of rain fell over a 24-hour period in Miyazaki Prefecture. That's more than the average rainfall for the entire month of September.
A mudslide warning has been issued for the prefectures of Kagoshima, Miyazaki and Kumamoto.
All seven prefectures on Kyushu island had issued evacuation orders to local residents as of 10:30 p.m.
The orders apply to more than 1.8 million people.
A woman in her 80s in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture, says she became quite worried after hearing the typhoon would be so powerful.
Another woman in Kagoshima City says she has decided to evacuate for the first time.
At least 15 people have so far been injured in Kyushu.
About 580 domestic flights are set to be canceled on Monday. These include flights to and from the Shikoku and Chugoku regions, as well as Kyushu.
The operator of the Kyushu Shinkansen line says all trains will be canceled on Monday. Trains of the Sanyo Shinkansen line between Hakata and Hiroshima will also be canceled.
