Powerful typhoon bears down on Japan

Tuesday 06th October, 03:20 PM JST

TOKYO —

A powerful typhoon barreled toward Japan on Tuesday, prompting warnings of strong winds and high waves just days after storms wreaked devastation in Southeast Asia. Typhoon Melor (Typhoon No. 18), packing gusts of up to 252 kilometers per hour, was bearing down on Minami Daito island in Japan’s far south and may hit the main island of Honshu on Thursday, the weather agency said.

The storm has winds of up to 180 kilometers per hour near its center, it said. “Minami Daito is expected to be hit by violent winds and rough seas with a sea swell of more than nine meters from late Tuesday to Wednesday noon,” an official at the agency said.

Melor may make landfall on Kii Peninsula in western Honshu on Thursday.
(From JapanToday)