Typhoon over Japan's Okinawa kills 1, disrupts transportation
A view of a fallen tree following typhoon Khanun in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan August 2, 2023, in this screengrab taken from a social media video.
An elderly man has been killed in Japan as powerful Typhoon Khanun hits the southern island prefecture of Okinawa on Wednesday, according to the country's weather agency, warning of expanded damage.
The 90-year-old man died in a hospital on Wednesday after he became trapped under his collapsed garage the previous night at his residence, located in the prefecture, with police suspecting that the collapse was caused by strong winds accompanying the typhoon, according to local media reports.
Local authorities said that at least 35 people were injured, three of them seriously, due to strong winds, while around 220,000 households, or a third of local homes, were affected by the outage at one point in the afternoon.
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) issued a warning of potent winds and storm tides as the typhoon's relentless advance continues.
Khanun, the sixth typhoon of this year, caused transportation disruptions on Wednesday, with All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines canceling a total of over 200 flights, primarily landing and departing from Okinawa, affecting more than 40,000 passengers.
Some Thursday flights to and from Okinawa, as well as Kagoshima Prefecture in the southern tip of Kyushu, have also been canceled.
It will likely continue to affect Okinawa with storms and high waves on Thursday and beyond, and could also affect areas on Japan's southwestern main island of Kyushu if it changes course to the east, said the JMA.
As of 6 pm local time Wednesday, the typhoon was situated west of Kume Island, charting a west-northwest trajectory at a velocity of 15 kilometers per hour. With its core displaying an atmospheric pressure of 935 hectopascals, the typhoon boasts winds surging up to 234 kilometers per hour.
The impending typhoon is expected not only to unleash its fury in the form of gales and surging tides but also to deluge the region with torrential rainfall. Okinawa and Amami-Oshima Island, nestled in the southwestern Kagoshima prefecture, are projected to experience staggering precipitation levels.
Over the course of 24 hours leading up to 6 pm on Thursday, estimates suggest that Okinawa could witness a deluge of up to 200 millimeters, while Amami-Oshima Island may receive 100 millimeters of rain.
