Tokyo:

Typhoon Shanshan slammed into Japan’s main southern island of Kyushu early Thursday, with authorities advising thousands of people to evacuate and issuing the highest warning level for wind and storm surges.

The weather office said that Japan’s most powerful typhoon this year made landfall at around 8:00 am (2300 GMT Wednesday) packing gusts of up to 252 kilometres (157 miles) per hour.

Kyushu’s utility operator said that 254,610 houses were already without power.

“Special warnings of violent storms, high waves and high tides are being issued to the Kagoshima region (of Kyuhsu),” the Japan Meteorological Office said.

“Please exercise maximum vigilance against violent storms, high waves and high tides in Kagoshima, as well as landslides, flooding in low-lying areas and overflowing rivers in southern Kyushu,” it said.

“Please also be advised that the risk of a disaster due to heavy rain can rapidly escalate in western Japan as Friday approaches.”

Heavy rain brought by Shanshan has been lashing large parts of Japan since Tuesday.

Three members of a family died after a landslide buried a house in Gamagori, a city in central Aichi prefecture, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported early Thursday, citing local government officials.

The deceased included a couple in their 70s as well as a son in his 30s, while two adult daughters in their 40s survived with injuries, Kyodo reported.

For southern Kyushu, the JMA predicted an enormous 1,100 millimetres (43 inches) of precipitation in the 48 hours to Friday morning.

Video on public broadcaster NHK TV showed roof tiles being blown off houses, broken windows and felled trees.

“Our carport roof was blown away in its entirety. I wasn’t at home when it happened, but my kids say they felt the shaking so strong they thought an earthquake happened,” a local resident in Miyazaki told NHK.

“I was surprised. It was completely beyond our imagination,” she said.

Auto giant Toyota has suspended production at all 14 of its factories in Japan.

Japan Airlines cancelled 172 domestic flights and six international flights scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, while ANA nixed 219 domestic flights and four international ones on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

The cancellations affected around 25,000 people.

Kyushu Railway said it would suspend some Shinkansen bullet train services between Kumamoto and Kagoshima Chuo from Wednesday night and warned of further possible disruption.

Trains between Tokyo and Fukuoka, the most populous city on Kyushu, may also be cancelled depending on weather conditions this week, other operators said.

Shanshan comes in the wake of Typhoon Ampil, which disrupted hundreds of flights and trains this month.

Despite dumping heavy rain, it caused only minor injuries and damage.

Ampil came days after Tropical Storm Maria brought record rains to northern areas.

Typhoons in the region have been forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly and lasting longer over land due to climate change, according to a study released last month.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Beijing, China:

Seven people died and three were missing after heavy rain and flooding hit central China’s Hunan province, state media reported Tuesday.

China is enduring a summer of extreme weather, with heavy rains battering swathes of the country and many regions enduring sweltering heat waves.

The country is by far the world’s largest emitter of the greenhouse gases that scientists say drive climate change and make extreme weather more frequent and intense.

In Hunan’s Yongxing county, three people missing since last Wednesday were confirmed dead after a landslide.

Four more were killed and three remain missing in Zixing, where more than 11,000 people were evacuated after the city experienced record rainfall — some areas receiving 645 millimetres (25 inches) in just 24 hours — state news agency Xinhua reported on Tuesday.

The rains damaged nearly 900 homes and caused 1,345 road collapses, Xinhua added. Around 5,400 rescuers have been dispatched to help those affected.

The downpours have been caused by the remnants of Typhoon Gaemi, which made landfall in eastern China on Thursday, with Hunan particularly hard hit.

On Sunday, a landslide destroyed a guesthouse and killed 15 people, while elsewhere in the province nearly 4,000 residents were evacuated after a dam breach.

On Monday, China’s National Meteorological Centre issued an orange alert, the second highest level, for rainstorms across much of the south, southwest, and centre of the country, as well as the capital Beijing, Hebei province, and Tianjin in the north.

In northeastern Liaoning province, more than 10,000 people were evacuated from areas near the Yalu River, on the border with North Korea, as waters rose.

Disaster agencies in the country have allocated 110,000 items of relief supplies to support emergency relocation of those affected and provide basic supplies in Liaoning, Jilin, Hunan, and Shaanxi provinces, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

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Taitung, Taiwan:

Typhoon Haikui made landfall on eastern Taiwan Sunday, unleashing torrential downpours, whipping winds and plunging thousands of households into darkness as the first major storm to directly hit the island in four years.

Nearly 4,000 people were evacuated from high-risk areas, hundreds of flights cancelled and businesses closed in preparation for the storm.

Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau said in a press conference the typhoon was “at our doorstep” and by 3:40 pm (0740 GMT) confirmed to AFP it had made landfall in coastal Taitung, a mountainous county in lesser-populated eastern Taiwan.

Residents hunkered down indoors in the dark, staying away from windows as strong gusts of wind sent toppled trees and dislodged water tanks flying in the air, according to an AFP reporter.

“I think this time it is serious,” said retired mechanic Chang Jhi-ming, 58, in Taitung.

“This is just beginning, the wind is just coming in and you can see trees toppling already.”

The typhoon has gathered speed since yesterday, and at 3:00 pm was packing sustained winds of about 154 kilometres (95 miles) per hour.

“Rain and wind will be most intense and its impact will be most obvious during this period” after landfall, said a spokesperson with the weather bureau, adding that the typhoon will move into the Taiwan Strait by Monday evening.

Across the island, more than 21,000 hosueholds lost power, and while most resumed by mid-afternoon, about 9,000 were still without electricity when Haikui hit — including in Taitung.

Authorities have reported two minor injuries in Hualien county — a mountainous region which was issued a warning for flash floods — after a fallen tree hit a car.

The last major storm to hit Taiwan was Typhoon Bailu in 2019, which left one person dead.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said Haikui would be the first in four years to cross the Central Mountain Range running north to south of the island — a path that could lead to landslides in surrounding counties.

“I remind the people to make preparations for the typhoon and watch out for your safety, avoid going out or any dangerous activities,” President Tsai said.

– ‘Big winds’ –

The streets in Hualien were deserted Sunday, battered by unrelenting rain, while a fishing harbour in northeastern coastal Yilan county saw towering waves slam against the shore.

In Taitung, before Haikui landed, ripped up trees already littered the streets, street signs swayed under the strong winds and a restaurant owner tied down his signpost advertising seafood.

“I almost forgot what it’s like to be in a typhoon. What big winds!” restaurant owner Huang Jun-tong said, adding that when he woke up this morning he immediately went to his shop to make sure everything was protected.

“Yesterday, it was so calm that we did not feel like a typhoon was coming. Today, we feel it,” he told AFP.

The military had mobilised soldiers and equipment — such as amphibious vehicles and inflatable rubber boats — around the parts of Taiwan where Haikui is expected to have the heaviest impact.

But it is expected to be less severe than Saola, which bypassed Taiwan but triggered the highest threat level in nearby Hong Kong and southern China before it weakened into a tropical storm by Saturday.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Nearly 3,000 people were evacuated from high-risk areas in eastern Taiwan ahead of Typhoon Haikui as authorities prepared Sunday for the first tropical storm to directly hit the island in four years.

Haikui — which had already brought heavy rains by Sunday morning — is packing a sustained wind speed of about 140 kilometres (39 miles) per hour, and is expected to make landfall in Taiwan’s eastern Taitung area by 5:00 pm (0900 GMT).

Schools and offices around the southern and eastern parts of the island were closed Sunday, and more than 200 domestic flights cancelled.

Haikui “will be the first typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in four years”, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said Sunday.

“I remind the people to make preparations for the typhoon and watch out for your safety, avoid going out or any dangerous activities.”

The storm was around 180 kilometres (110 miles) east of Taiwan just before 9:00 am, Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau said in a press conference.

“It has gathered some strength since yesterday,” said deputy director Fong Chin-tzu, urging to public to be “on guard”.

“It is expected to pose a considerable threat to most areas in Taiwan with winds, rains and waves,” he said, adding that the storm would move west to the Taiwan Strait by Monday.

The Interior Ministry said authorities had evacuated more than 2,800 people across seven cities in Taiwan, the majority of them from the mountainous county of Hualien, which neighbours Taitung.

The streets of Hualien were deserted Sunday morning, battered by unrelenting torrential rain under dark skies.

The military has mobilised soldiers and equipment — such as amphibious vehicles and inflatable rubber boats — around the parts of Taiwan where Haikui is expected to have the heaviest impact.

The last major storm to hit Taiwan was Typhoon Bailu in 2019, which left one person dead.

Haikui is expected to be less severe than Saola, which bypassed Taiwan but triggered the highest threat level in nearby Hong Kong and southern China before it weakened into a tropical storm by Saturday.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)