TOKYO (AP) – Residents of Japan’s southwestern islands were warned of high winds and rain yesterday through the weekend as Typhoon Khanun made a U-turn and is now moving back east.
Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said that Khanun is heading to Okinawa and nearby islands that were already lashed by its winds and rain earlier this week.
Khanun had sustained surface winds of 78 miles per hour (mph) with higher gusts yesterday afternoon, the JMA said.
Up to 15 centimetres (cm) of rain was expected in the Okinawa region by today and up to 30cm in the Amami region, an island group belonging to the southern main island of Kyushu, by tomorrow, JMA said.
Khanun had been stronger, with sustained winds of 11 mph, when it crossed the islands last Tuesday, damaging homes and knocking out power.
The Okinawa prefectural government said 44 people were injured, three of them seriously.
Two deaths were being investigated as typhoon-caused but are not in the official death toll.
The storm at one point left nearly 220,000 homes, or about 30 per cent, of those in Okinawa, without power, according to the Okinawa Electric Power Company.
By yesterday morning, about 50,000 still lacked electricity, according to the Economy and Industry Ministry.
Okinawa’s airport was packed with passengers stranded since earlier this week.
About 80 Hong Kong travellers had been stuck in a hotel since last Wednesday, said Executive Director of Hong Kong-based travel agency EGL Tours Steve Huen.
He said 26 of them flew home last Thursday, and the rest of the group left yesterday.
Khanun’s reversal will take it away from China, where rain from an earlier typhoon caused severe flooding this week around Beijing.
