Some 200,000 homes were still without electricity this Wednesday afternoon, August 2, in the Okinawa archipelago, at the southern tip of Japan, after the passage of the powerful typhoon Khanun, which killed one person. according to local media. The typhoon is now heading west towards eastern China, which it is expected to hit later this week.
Described as “very powerful” by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), the typhoon brought heavy rain and wind speeds of 162 km/h, with recorded peaks of up to 234 km/h.
According to an updated report by the local electricity company Okinawa Electric Power, some 200,000 homes, or nearly a third of the total in the department of Okinawa, were still without power late Wednesday afternoon Japanese time.
Launched on Tuesday by local authorities, instructions to evacuate the population to shelters were maintained for more than 690,000 inhabitants, according to the site of the Japanese Fire and Disaster Management Agency.
A 90-year-old man died after being trapped in a collapsed garage on Tuesday evening, probably under the effect of strong winds, reported several Japanese media, including the public television channel NHK, which also reported on the incident. 35 injured, citing police and firefighters.
The weather agency also warned of the risk of flooding and landslides in parts of the main island of Okinawa.
Like the day before, hundreds of flights were canceled on Wednesday from or to this popular tourist archipelago in summer, affecting 65,000 passengers according to NHK.
Many tourists were thus stuck since Tuesday at the airport of Naha, the capital of the department. “We couldn’t find a hotel and we don’t know when we’ll be able to book a return flight,” traveler Minako Kawakami told local newspaper Okinawa Times.
