Champi: Kumamoto issues evacuation advisory covering 740,000 people as storm nears Kyushu

The city of Kumamoto in southern Japan issued an evacuation advisory for elderly and other vulnerable residents across the whole city at 3pm local time (6am GMT) on Sunday 25 October, covering 315,456 households and 740,822 people, as the storm Champi approached Kyushu, public broadcaster NHK reported. The city opened 20 shelters, NHK said. The advisory is level 3 on Japan’s five-level warning scale.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said Champi had turned into a low-pressure system over waters west of Kyushu, but that warm, moist air flowing into a weather front near Honshu was making conditions very unstable across western and eastern Japan, according to NHK. The agency forecast up to 250 mm of rain in Shikoku and up to 200 mm in northern Kyushu and the Izu Islands in the 24 hours to Monday afternoon, and maximum wind speeds of 72 km/h in northern Kyushu on Monday. It urged people to be on high alert for landslides, flooding of low-lying areas and swollen rivers.

Earlier, the storm passed Japan’s southernmost islands. The Okinawa prefectural government said two people were injured, and hundreds of flights were cancelled in the region, AFP reported.

Champi left one person dead and 616 injured in Taiwan, according to Taiwan’s Central Emergency Operation Center. AFP reported that Chinese authorities warned of strong winds and heavy rain on the east coast and that tens of thousands of people had been evacuated from their homes in Shanghai.

See also: Champi leaves one dead and 616 injured in Taiwan.