A powerful typhoon was bearing down on Japan and headed toward Tokyo on Monday, dumping torrential rains, damaging homes and flooding parts of the country's popular tourist destination of Kyoto, where 260,000 people were ordered to evacuate to shelters. Dozens were injured and public broadcaster NHK said four people were missing. Typhoon Man-yi, one of the worst storms to lash Japan this season, was packing wind speeds of 162 kilometers (100 miles) per hour at midday and headed toward Japan's capital region. The government has set up an emergency task force to assess damage and support rescue effort, said Prime Minister's Office official Hikariko Ono. Kyoto and neighboring Shiga prefecture have asked the Defense Ministry to mobilize relief teams. Man-yi hit southern Japan on Monday, and officials are predicting that it would be on a course to hit Central Japan (the Chubu region) on the same day as well. The Japan Meteorological Agency said that the storm was on a path along the Pacific waters close to the southern island of Shikoku on Sunday overnight to Monday packing winds of up to 144 kilometers (90 miles) per hour moving north-northwest. With this, the Japanese government has warned of floods and strong winds in the southern and central regions of Japan as the typhoon makes its way through the country. The typhoon was on a direct course to hit the main island of Honshu Monday morning, possibly around 9:00 AM (0000 GMT) in Shizuoka Prefecture, southwest of Tokyo. In the 24 hours until Monday evening, 500 mm of rain is expected in the Kanto, Tokai and Kinki regions, 400 mm in Tohoku and 250 mm in Hokuriku and Shikoku. The movement of the weather system is then expected to head northeast towards the capital and its surrounding region by noon, and cross the northeast towards the Fukushima area, as the Japan Meteorological Agency predicted the storm's track. With this, the agency has since then issued flood, mudslide and heavy rain and wave warnings for areas along the Pacific coast. "Please keep yourselves updated on the latest weather information and, if necessary, evacuate before the weather gets really rough," senior weather forecaster Hiroyuki Uchida said. There is also a high possibility that Typhoon Man-yi will affect Fukushima, where utility crews at TEPCO's disaster-stricken Fukushima nuclear power facility are struggling to contain contaminated waste water from leaking and flowing into the groundwater. With torrential rains expected on the whole day of Monday, it is feared that more contaminated water will seep into the groundwater, already compounded by leakage of almost 300 tons of water in the ground at a daily rate. Typhoon to hit Japanese coast near damaged nuclear plant An approaching typhoon is once again highlighting the precarious nature of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan. Typhoon Man-yi is making landfall on the main island of Honshu and is heading over Tokyo and later today will pass over or near the nuclear plant. The operator says it's on high alert for damaging winds and heavy rain. Massive 100mph typhoon lashes Japan Japan tells 300000 households to evacuate as typhoon hits Massive typhoon bears down on Japan Japan issues heavy rain warnings due to typhoon Typhoon Man-yi hits Japan, special warning of heavy rain Japan Typhoon Man-Yi Surfaces, Endangering Fukushima Japan Typhoon: Man-yi Brings Heavy Rain and Winds to Area Damaged By ... Typhoon to hit Japanese coast near damaged nuclear plant Travel may get difficult to Japan with Typhoon Man-yi Typhoon Man-yi heads for Japan

• published: 16 Sep 2013
• views: 14