Typhoon Shanshan Barrels Into Japan, Triggering Rare Warnings

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Typhoon Shanshan Barrels Into Japan, Triggering Rare Warnings

[Follow the latest coverage of Typhoon Shanshan.]

Typhoon Shanshan made landfall Thursday morning in southern Japan, bringing strong winds and high waves to the area, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

According to the agency, the typhoon made landfall at around 8 a.m. local time near Satsumasendai City in Kagoshima prefecture.

Nearly a million people in Japan remained under evacuation orders Thursday morning as Typhoon Shanshan delivered hurricane-force winds, torrential rain and the threat of landslides, with the authorities warning that the storm could produce a large-scale disaster.

Meteorological officials issued rare emergency warnings for the powerful storm as it churned north along the shore of Kyushu, the southernmost main island of Japan, on Thursday. Waves towered nearly 30 feet high in southern Kyushu on Thursday, and wind speeds of up to 45 meters per second were predicted, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. Record-breaking rainfall in the Kagoshima and Miyazaki prefectures were expected over the next several days.

Emergency warnings were issued for storm surge and high waves in Kagoshima Prefecture, and are the highest category of warnings possible in Japan. Such advisories are usually only issued once every few decades in a given region,

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the Japan Meteorological Agency. With a risk of tornadoes in the prefecture on Thursday morning, the agency

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people to pay attention to the sky and move inside to sturdy buildings.

Parts of the country far from the typhoon, mainly in western Japan and the Pacific Ocean side of eastern Japan, were experiencing heavy rain and thunder early on Thursday morning because of the storm,

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. Emergency landslide warnings were issued in several prefectures.

In Aichi Prefecture, in central Japan, a family of five was ******* on Wednesday after a landslide toppled their house. Three of them were confirmed *****, the public broadcaster NHK

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on Thursday. The authorities believe the victims were a couple in their 70s and their son in his 30s. Two daughters survived, but one sustained serious injuries, NHK reported.

Shanshan may make landfall in Kyushu by Friday, the agency

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. The storm weakened as it skirted the coast Thursday morning, but its slow pace means it will lash some areas with relentless rain for hours, elevating threats of flooding.

In southern Kyushu, the authorities warned that winds could topple some homes, and that the rain could cause flash flooding and landslides. The authorities issued evacuation orders for about 990,000 people across southern, western and central Japan on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Eight cities and towns, mostly on the Amami Islands south of the mainland, had ordered residents to evacuate, NHK reported. More than 234,000 customers were without power in Kyushu on Thursday morning, the Kyushu Electric Power Transmission and Distribution company

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. The utility said that it had set up a disaster team to respond to the outages.

Toyota announced that it would pause production at all 14 of its Japan factories starting Wednesday evening, to protect the safety of its workers. Shiro Tachimoto, a company representative, said the company would reassess on Thursday morning whether to keep the factories closed or reopen them.

Japan Airlines

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that it had canceled some Wednesday flights that had been scheduled to arrive or depart from some airports in central Japan, including Osaka Kansai Airport, one of the country’s largest. In a statement on its website early Thursday morning, the airline said its international flights were “expected to operate as usual,” but were subject to change because of the typhoon. All Nippon Airlines, the country’s largest airline,

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it had canceled some Friday flights at Osaka airport.

Japan’s high-speed rail network, the Shinkansen,

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some trains on Wednesday, and its operators warned that services could be disrupted into the weekend. Toll and expressway operators

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some earlier closures but warned residents to check traffic information this week before traveling. Postal services were also disrupted at some counters on Wednesday, according

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, and cellphone services were down in parts of the Kagoshima Prefecture, according to

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.

The powerful storm had sustained winds of up to 97 miles per hour on Thursday,

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a Category 2 hurricane,

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the U.S. Navy’s ****** Typhoon Warning Center. In some cities in central and eastern Japan, up to 10 inches of rain fell in a 24-hour window from Tuesday into Wednesday. Some cities in Japan saw winds of up to 86 miles per hour, equivalent to those of a Category 1 hurricane.

At some point, after moving northwest along the coast during the day Thursday, the typhoon will likely turn back east. However, precisely when or where that will occur ******** unclear.

Heavy rain is expected to continue after Friday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, when the region could see a record-breaking 39 inches of rain, mainly in southern Kyushu.

Japan last issued emergency warnings for Typhoon Nanmadol, a 2022 storm that brought torrential rain and landslides to Kyushu. More than eight million people were ordered to evacuate.

The start of the Pacific typhoon season this year has seen a lower number of tropical storms than average, in part because of the La Niña weather pattern that is predicted to arrive later this summer, according to the U.S. National Weather Service.

La Niña, which is defined by cooler equatorial sea surface temperatures, typically increases wind shear — changes in wind speed and direction — in the central Pacific region, which makes it ******* for storms to develop, the Weather Service

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.

Isabella Kwai , Judson Jones, Amanda Holpuch and Alexandra E. Petri contributed reporting.

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