Level four evacuation instructions were in place for people in Kagoshima, Kumamoto and Miyazaki in the southern Kyushu region.
This handout photo taken and released on September 17, 2022 by the Japan Meteorological Agency shows satellite imagery shows Typhoon Nanmadol located near the southern remote islands of Japan.
The move came as the Japan Meteorological Agency issued its highest alert for the Kagoshima region, a warning that comes when it forecasts conditions only seen once in several decades. “There are risks of unprecedented storms, high waves, storm surges, and record rainfall,” Ryuta Kurora, the head of the Japan Meteorological Agency’s forecast unit, told reporters. “It’s a very dangerous typhoon.”
But they are not mandatory, and during past extreme weather events authorities have struggled to convince residents to take shelter quickly enough.“Please move into sturdy buildings before violent winds start to blow and stay away from windows even inside sturdy buildings,” he told a late night press conference.