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KAGOSHIMA: A powerful typhoon struck Saturday in Okinawa, an island in southern Japan, killing at least five people, while weather officials warned the storm would rip the Japanese archipelago this weekend.
The Typhoon Trami, forecasting maximum gusts of 216 kilometers to the hour near its center, is expected to hit the mainland early Sunday and could cause extreme weather conditions throughout the country until Monday.
Television footage showed branches torn off by strong winds blocking a main street in Naha, with massive waves splashing the breakwaters on an island far away from the region and torrential horizontal rains.
Some 600 people have been evacuated to shelters in Okinawa and electricity has been cut off in more than 121,000 homes, said public broadcaster NHK.
At least 386 flights were canceled mainly in western Japan, according to the NHK public channel.
Five people were injured in storm-related accidents in Okinawa, but no one died, according to local officials.
"The number may increase because we are still collecting information," said Motoki Minei, a manager with the island's disaster management office.
"We urge our residents to remain vigilant against the typhoon," he told AFP.
The weather agency warned residents of Japan to be on their guard against "strong winds, big waves, heavy rains".
After scouring the remote islands, the typhoon is expected to pick up speed and approach western Japan on Sunday, remaining strong as it crosses the continent.
Fishermen in Kagoshima Bay, where the typhoon is expected to land, were already making preparations and stopping their boats as Trami approached.
The angler Masakazu Hirase told AFP: "It is appalling because we already know there is another typhoon after this one, but you can not compete with nature. We are doing everything we can to limit the damage. "
If predictions come true, it will be the last of a series of extreme natural events hitting Japan.
The western regions of Japan are still recovering from the most powerful typhoon that hit the country in a quarter of a century, killing 11 people and stopping the main regional airport in early September.
Record rains also hit western Japan early in the year and the country went through one of the hottest summers ever recorded.
Also in September, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake rocked the northern island of Hokkaido, causing landslides and killing more than 40 people.
