Thousands urged to evacuate as Typhoon #Nangka hits #Japan

Powerful Typhoon Nangka was barrelling towards the Japanese mainland early today after killing at least two people on the island of Shikoku as authorities urged more than 350,000 residents to evacuate. Nangka, which overnight was packing gusts up to 185 kilometres (115 miles) per hour, made landfall near Cape Muroto on Shikoku, one of the country’s main islands, around 11:00 pm (local time) yesterday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

By shortly before 6:00 am local time today the storm had passed over most of Shikoku and was moving north-northwest at 20 kilometres an hour, set to lash the main island of Honshu before passing into the Sea of Japan, according to the agency’s website. It weakened overnight, with gusts early yesterday of 150 km per hour, the website said.