One killed, 35 others injured as Typhoon Khanun hits Japan's Okinawa
Aug 02, 2023
Tokyo [Japan], August 2 : One person was killed as a large, powerful Typhoon Khanun hit Japan's Okinawa prefecture on Wednesday, Japan-based Kyodo News reported. More than a third of households have been left without power, as the weather agency warned of expanded damage from the slowly moving typhoon.
At least 35 people were injured, with three of them in serious condition, due to strong winds, Kyodo News reported citing prefectural government. The local utility said around 220,000 households were impacted by the outage at one point in the afternoon.
A 90-year-old man died in a hospital after being trapped under his garage that collapsed, apparently due to the violent winds, according to police. Typhoon Khanun is expected to slow over the East China Sea while maintaining its strength, according to Kyodo News report.
The typhoon is forecast to continue to impact Okinawa Prefecture with storms and high waves on Thursday and beyond, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, according to Kyodo News report. According to Japan Meteorological Agency, the typhoon could also impact areas on Japan's southwestern main island of Kyushu if it changes course to the east.
Transportation has been disrupted due to typhoon, with All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines cancelling a total of over 200 flights, primarily landing and departing from Okinawa on Wednesday, and impacting more than 40,000 passengers, according to Kyodo News report.
Some flights that were scheduled to land and depart from Okinawa and Kagoshima Prefecture on Thursday have also been cancelled. As of 6 pm (local time) Wednesday, the typhoon was west of Kume Island, moving west-northwest at 15 kilometers per hour.
The storm had an atmospheric pressure of 935 hectopascals at its center. The typhoon is also expected to bring torrential rain, with precipitation of up to 200 millimeters in Okinawa and 100 mm in Amami-Oshima Island in Kagoshima over the 24 hours through 6 pm (local time) on Thursday.