Typhoon Malakas feared to directly hit Kyushu

[yuiyoshida]

Powerful Typhoon Malakas is feared to directly hit Kyushu sometime between late
Sept. 19 and early Sept. 20, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.

On the morning of Sept. 19, the typhoon, this year's 16th, was moving east-northeast above the East China Sea at about 20 kilometers per hour, according to the JMA. The atmospheric pressure at its center was 945 hectopascals. The typhoon is packing winds up to 45 meters per second, or 162 kilometers per hour, around its center. The maximum instantaneous wind speed was 60 meters per second, or 216 kilometers per hour.

The agency has warned of strong winds, heavy rain, high waves and tidal waves.

The JMA estimates that the amount of rain over a 24-hour period up to noon on Sept. 20 will be 300 millimeters in northern and southern Kyushu and 250 millimeters in Shikoku. The agency also expects the typhoon will bring 300 to 400 millimeters of rain to the Kinki district around Osaka, 200 to 300 millimeters to the Tokai region in central Honshu and 100 to 200 millimeters of rain to the Hokuriku and Kanto-Koshin regions over a 24-hour period up to noon on Sept. 21.

The typhoon is expected to pass along the pacific coast of western to eastern Japan on Sept. 20 before being downgraded to an extratropical cyclone the following day.