Photo – BBC
Typhoon Shanshan hit Kyushu at the early hours of 8am, today, forcing evacuations and a halt in factories and ports.
Japanese officials expedited the evacuation of almost 4 million people. The typhoon brought high-speed winds, torrential rain, and extremely dangerous storm surges.
Kyushu Electric Power reported that over 255,150 households had their power cut off on Thursday morning.
Massive firms such as Toyota, Honda, Mazda, and Nissan have brought production at their factories to a halt following the typhoon. Port operations, amounting to 24 ports from within the region, have also come to a halt. This will cause many delays in shipments and in transport.
Airline disruptions have also affected 25,000 people, with Japan Airlines cancelling 172 domestic flights and ANA Airlines cancelling 219 flights since.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters that Shanshan would approach southern Kyushu with “extremely strong force” on Thursday. Hayashi said the typhoon, expected to pack gusts of up to 250km/h (155mph), would bring “violent winds” and “high waves” stronger than those experienced in the past.
With landslides and floods, Typhoon Shanshan looks to bring much of southern to a close for a few days at least.
The typhoon has killed 3 people in it’s aftermath.
