Typhoon Khanun was on track Monday to pour torrential rain on one of Japan’s biggest islands this week, forcing commemorations of the Nagasaki atomic blast to be held indoors.
Last week’s typhoon killed at least two people, injured more than 100, and knocked out electricity to hundreds of thousands in the southern Okinawa region before barreling into Taiwan.
The weather system has since returned to the Okinawa area and was predicted to rumble northwards to the west of Kyushu on Tuesday and Wednesday before turning towards South Korea, according to a televised news briefing from the Japan Meteorological Agency.
An agency official told the conference that the typhoon “could bring significant rainfall in wide regions,” and that “heavy rainfall will increase the risk of disasters.”
The storm forced Nagasaki, one of Kyushu’s biggest towns, to postpone its yearly memorial of the 1945 attack, which was set for Wednesday.
The ceremony, which is normally held outdoors in the city’s Peace Park, is attended by government ministers, authorities, and hundreds of guests, including bombing survivors.
On Monday afternoon, the typhoon was stationed east of the island of Amami Oshima, about 350 kilometers (220 miles) south of Kyushu, with winds gusting up to 144 kilometers (90 miles) per hour, according to the agency.
The slow-moving nature of the typhoon could mean rainfalls could become prolonged, increasing risks of disasters such as flooding and landslides, the agency said.
