Massive super typhoon is heading for Southwest Japan
Baku, July 9 (AZERTAC). Japan is bracing for what could be the strongest typhoon to ever strike the country during the month of July, as Typhoon Neoguri buffets the Okinawa Islands on Monday. The storm is currently packing maximum sustained winds of 125 miles per hour, making it the equivalent of a Category Three hurricane. Earlier on Monday, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center was predicting the storm would intensify from a Category Four Super Typhoon storm into a Category Five monster, but as of 4 p.m. ET, the forecast shows it steadily weakening — but remaining a typhoon — as it curves toward Japan.
In general, tropical cyclone intensity forecasts are less accurate than track forecasts.
The storm is on course to make landfall on July 9 local time in southwest Japan, on the island of Kyushu near the city of Nagasaki, before moving rapidly northeastward. This track would take it across the main island of Honshu, bringing heavy rain and strong winds to large cities such as Hiroshima, Kyoto, Osaka, Nagano, Tokyo and Fukushima. The worst winds, highest waves and the heaviest rains, however, are expected to be confined to the Kyushu and Shikoku islands. In these areas, heavy rains from a separate storm have preceded Neoguri, making these areas susceptible to landslides and flooding.
The storm, which had been known as a Super Typhoon due to its intensity, is already starting to be felt in Okinawa, which is home to 1.3 million people, including a major U.S. military base that is home to the largest combat wing in the Air Force. According to Kadena Air Force Base's Facebook page, officials have taken steps to secure the area in anticipation of hurricane force winds. The base will be in the most intense region of the storm, which is the right front quadrant, but the track forecast has consistently shown that the storm will most likely pass just far enough to the southwest of the island to avoid a disastrous direct hit.
As of 3 p.m. ET, Kadena Air Force Base was reporting tropical storm conditions, with sustained winds of about 40 mph, and gusts to 56 mph.
Vugar Aghayev
Special Correspondent in Tokyo
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