A man pushes his pedicab through a flooded street in Manila as Khanun intensifies the southwest monsoon rains on July 29, 2023. Photo AFP
Strong winds battered power lines in Japan’s Okinawa and knocked out power to more than 200,000 homes on Wednesday morning as powerful and slow-moving Typhoon Khanun approached the country’s southwestern islands, threatening rains torrential.
Hundreds of thousands of people in the tropical prefecture, a popular tourist destination about 1,600 km (1,000 miles) southwest of the Japanese capital Tokyo, were told to evacuate as the storm moved north- west at a speed of 10 km/h (6.2 mph), according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
Local utility Okinawa Electric Power said 218,260 homes, or 34% of all homes covered, experienced power outages as of 9 a.m. Japan time (0000 GMT), according to its website.
In Okinawa’s capital, Naha, the airport was fully closed for a second day on Wednesday. More than 400 flights have already been canceled as of this morning with at least 65,000 passengers affected, according to public broadcaster NHK.
The storm hits during the peak summer tourist season, which this year has seen visitor numbers return to pre-pandemic levels. Okinawa is frequently hit by typhoons, but usually later in the year.
