TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan braced for torrential rains on Friday as Typhoon Mawar neared, bringing wind and heavy rain to a wide swathe of the main islands.
Mawar, which wreaked havoc on Guam earlier this week, has weakened to tropical storm strength from its earlier super typhoon status, and the main body of the storm was expected to pass south of the main island of Honshu as it moved into the Pacific.
But forecasters warned there was the danger that humid air from the typhoon could feed into a seasonal rain front, touching off heavy localized rains.
Similar weather patterns have caused flooding and landslides in the past, most notably in the summer of 2018, when more than 200 people were killed in western Japan.
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued flood warnings for the Okinawa island chain and parts of Shikoku and Honshu islands, with forecasts of 350 millimetres (13.8 inches) of rain in parts of western Honshu in the 24 hours up to Saturday morning.
Though a number of flights to the Okinawa area were cancelled, there were no other reports of major disruptions or evacuation orders as of Friday morning.
(Reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
