(Bloomberg) -- Residents in some parts of Japan’s southern island of Kyushu have been issued evacuation orders as Typhoon Shanshan barrels toward the coast, bringing heavy rain and the threat of storm surges.
Shanshan has maximum sustained winds of 95 knots (176 kilometers) an hour near its center, and the storm is forecast to clip Kyushu on Thursday, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. The system is currently equivalent to a Category 2 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale and just below the threshold of being a Category 3.
High winds and rain were already battering Makurazaki, according to posts on social media. The typhoon will likely hold onto its strength overnight and may start to weaken as it gets closer before its landfall, said Scott Homan, a meteorologist with commercial forecaster AccuWeather Inc.
Miyazaki City in Miyazaki prefecture and several other areas within Kagoshima prefecture in Kyushu issued evacuation orders, urging residents to head to their nearest shelter. The southern part of the island may get 600 millimeters (24 inches) of rain over the 24 hours through to 12 p.m local time on Thursday, according to the weather bureau. Some isolated spots may even get more, Homan said.
The meteorological agency issued its highest emergency alert for Kagoshima prefecture on Wednesday, warning of the typhoon’s strong winds and high waves.
Shanshan has been churning toward Japan at a slow pace this week, leading to long periods of rain and wind across impacted areas, the weather agency said. The bureau later updated the alert to include storm surges. Heavy rain and high wind advisories reach across a large part of Japan.
The storm is already affecting election campaigning for leadership of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party. At least two of the highest profile candidates have delayed declaring their candidacy for the Sept. 27 election until next week because of concerns about the weather, according to local media.
Kyushu Electric Power Co., which provides power to the region, said it would halt some units at its Omarugawa pumped-storage power station on Wednesday, as well as two units at its Ohira pumped-storage power station on Thursday. More than 11,000 buildings in Kagoshima and Miyazaki prefectures have been hit by power outages, according to Kyushu Electric Power Transmission and Distribution Co.
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Carmakers Halt
The storm is impacting some manufacturers. Toyota Motor Corp. will suspend operations at all 14 of its plants from Wednesday evening to Thursday morning, a spokesperson for the company said. The automaker will decide whether to restart operations after Thursday morning, the spokesperson said.
Nissan Motor Co. will halt operations at two plants in Kyushu from Thursday morning until Friday morning, a spokesperson said. The company is expecting to resume operations on Friday evening. Honda Motor Co. will suspend operations at its Kumamoto plant on Thursday and Friday, a spokesperson said.
Transport operators are already taking precautionary measures. Japan Airlines Co. said it would cancel 122 domestic flights on Wednesday, and a further 159 on Thursday. All Nippon Airways Co. said more than 200 flights will be canceled between Wednesday and Friday.
Kyushu Railway Co. said it would suspend some bullet train services in the region for Thursday. Central Japan Railway Co. said the Tokaido bullet train may be impacted from Thursday into the weekend depending on the path of the storm. The service connects Tokyo, the capital, on the neighboring main island of Honshu, to western parts of the country.
--With assistance from Tsuyoshi Inajima, Supriya Singh, Yasufumi Saito and Brian K. Sullivan.
(Updates with meteorologist’s comments in third paragraph.)
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