Japan, Typhoon Nanmadol: 4 million citizens evacuated

Over 4 million Japanese citizens have had to evacuate their homes on the orders of the authorities concerned about the approach of Typhoon Nanmadol, now close to the Kyushu region, southwest of the archipelago. The directives were released at 11 am (local time, 4 am in Italy) and relaunched several times by public NHK television. In addition, the country’s two main airlines, Ana and Japan Airlines, suspended over 500 flights in the morning. Super-fast trains have also been suspended between Hakata and Kumamoto at the moment. The weather alert is at level 4 (5 is the maximum). Torrential rains, violent storm surges and gusts of wind up to 250 kilometers per hour have already hit southwest Japan: the most affected prefectures were those of Kagoshima and Miyazaki. But according to the National Meteorological Agency (JMA), the region south of Kyushu is expected to rain at least 600mm of rain in the next 24 hours until Monday morning.