Super Typhoon Chaba heads towards Japan
The fourth tropical system in less than three weeks threatens damaging winds and flooding rains for North Asia.
Published On 3 Oct 2016
Hurricane Matthew is dominating the weather news at the moment as it staggers across the Caribbean Sea towards Jamaica. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, the other JA – Japan – is keeping a close eye on its own tropical troublemaker.
Super Typhoon Chaba, which is known regionally as Igme, is currently located around 300km south of Okinawa. It is moving in the general direction of the Ryukyu Islands.
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Chaba has just been upgraded to the equivalent of a Category 5 Atlantic hurricane. It is packing winds of 270 kilometres per hour with gusts nearer 325km/h.
Further strengthening is likely within the next 12 hours. Sustained winds of 280km/h and gusts approaching 335km/h are possible.
The centre of Typhoon Chaba is currently forecast to move into the Korea Strait around 18:00 GMT on Tuesday. Damaging winds and flooding rains are expected to affect western Kyushu throughout much of the day ahead.
There has been flooding across South Korea and southern Japan recently. This has been caused by the passage of three typhoons in the past two weeks.
Chaba will bring heavy rain across the already saturated ground. This could lead to life-threatening floods and landslides.
Source: Al Jazeera