Tens of thousands of people across Japan were advised to evacuate, hundreds of flights were canceled and train services were disrupted Sunday as a typhoon roared toward the coast, bringing heavy rain and strong winds on a national election day.
Typhoon Lan, classified as an intense Category 4 storm by the Tropical Storm Risk monitoring site, was south of Japan and moving northeast at 40 kph Sunday afternoon, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.
An agency official told a news conference that while Lan appeared to have weakened slightly, it was still a powerful storm that could pound parts of Japan with more than 80 mm (3 inches) of rain an hour. It may make landfall near Tokyo early Monday.
Strong typhoon at landfall
"It will make landfall as a strong typhoon," the agency official said. "The wind and rain will grow stronger as the night goes on, so take measures as needed as early as possible, preferably before it gets dark."
Wind gusts of up to 162 kph (100 mph) were possible across central and eastern Japan early on Monday, the JMA added.
More than 70,000 households in various parts of Japan were advised to evacuate, with more than 5,000 ordered to do so, NHK public television said.
Several small landslides had occurred and rivers were rising dangerously close to the top of their banks in several parts of the country.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters he had called on the government to take steps as early as possible to minimize any threats to people's lives.
More than 300 flights were cancelled and rail services were interrupted in southern and western parts of the country. Toyota Motor Corp said it was cancelling the first shift at all of its assembly plants around the nation.
Election turnout
The bad weather could hinder voter turnout in the election, where Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party-led (LDP) coalition is on track to roughly match the two-thirds “super majority” it held in parliament’s lower house before dissolution.
Divisions in the opposition camp and jitters over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs are likely to help the ruling coalition, media forecasts have said.
Authorities in Okinawa moved the voting date to Saturday for some remote islands as the storm neared.
