Nearly two million people in Japan have been asked to seek shelter before Typhoon Nanmadol, national broadcaster NHK said, as the weather agency issued a rare “special warning” about the powerful storm, which is expected to make landfall on Sunday.
NHK, which compiles alerts issued by local authorities, said on Saturday that level four evacuation instructions – the second highest – were in place for people in Kagoshima, Kumamoto and Miyazaki in the southern Kyushu region.
The move came as the Japan Meteorological Agency issued its highest alert for the Kagoshima region, a warning that comes when it forecasts conditions seen only once in several decades.
It is the first typhoon-linked special warning issued outside of the Okinawa region since the current system began in 2013.
On Saturday evening, Typhoon Nanmadol was classed at the agency’s top category of “violent”, and was packing gusts of up to 270km/hour (168mph) as it hovered about 200km (124 miles) north-northeast of Minami Daito island, part of a string of remote isles that form the Okinawa region.
The typhoon is expected to approach or make landfall on Sunday in Kagoshima prefecture, then move north the following day before heading towards Japan’s main island.