More trouble projected for flood-hit western Japan as Typhoon Jongdari nears on unusual path.
A typhoon expected to take an unusual route across Japan is forecast to make landfall on Honshu over the weekend, with the Meteorological Agency calling for people in western Japan to be extra vigilant for further landslides and flooding after the rain disaster earlier this month.
As of 6 p.m. Friday, Typhoon Jongdari, the season’s 12th storm, was moving north over the Pacific Ocean at 30 kph and had an atmospheric pressure of 965 hectopascals. It was bringing heavy rain and winds to the remote Ogasawara Islands some 1,000 km south of Tokyo.
The storm is likely to gradually shift northwest and gain speed as it approaches Kanto on Saturday afternoon, before swerving west toward central and storm-hit western Japan through Sunday, said Ryuta Kurora, the agency’s chief forecaster.
At an emergency news conference, Kurora warned of flooding, landslides, high waves and strong winds, and urged people to check neighborhood hazard maps to prepare if governments issue evacuation warnings.
He also emphasized the importance of keeping abreast of the latest information because the typhoon may take a course different from the forecast. Two days ago, Jongdari, which means skylark in Korean, was predicted to traverse Honshu from southeast to northwest while en route to the Sea of Japan.
The typhoon could bring up to 500 millimeters of rain to eastern Japan, up to 400 mm to central Japan and 300 mm to western Japan over a 24-hour period ending noon Sunday.
