homehome Home chatchat Notifications


Japan braces for steep rain and wind due to Hagibis

The storm is set to make landfall on Saturday

Fermin Koop
October 11, 2019 @ 2:28 pm

share Share

Threatening to disrupt activity with the heaviest rain and winds in 60 years, the Hagibis Typhoon is approaching Japan, due to make landfall on the main island of Honshu on Saturday – a month after one of the strongest typhoons to hit Japan in recent years destroyed or damaged 30,000 houses.

A news broadcast in Japan warning over Hagibis

The Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, ordered his cabinet ministers to do their utmost to secure people’s safety. The storm could be the strongest to hit Tokyo since 1958. People should also prepare for high waves and storm surges, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

East Japan Railway announced that it will suspend many trains runs Saturday, while Central Japan Railway said it will cancel all shinkansen services between Tokyo and Nagoya and West Japan Railway plans suspensions between Shin-Osaka and Okayama stations.

Supermarkets are going the extra mile on safety precautions. Major chain Ito Yokado said it will close 124 outlets in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama, Ibaraki, Gifu, Shizuoka and Aichi prefectures throughout Saturday. Department store Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings announced the same day that its Shinjuku, Ginza, and Ebisu stores in Tokyo will close on Saturday as well.

Theme parks are no exception either. Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea will close on Saturday for the first time since the Great East Japan Earthquake struck in 2011, operator Oriental Land said. Universal Studios Japan said its Osaka facility will do the same.

Shigeo Kannaka, a director of Japan Bosai (Disaster Prevention) Society, urged caution. Asked what measures households can take to prepare for such contingencies, Kannaka recommended filling bathtubs, kettles, and buckets with water that can later be used to flush toilets and fulfill other domestic purposes.

Flashlights, lanterns and portable radios will also come in handy in the event of a power failure, he said. Other safety precautions include taping windows in all directions to prevent them from fragmenting when they break, stocking up on enough potable water for three days, and topping up the gas tanks of cars and other vehicles.

“To protect your own and your loved ones’ lives, please evacuate swiftly before winds and rain become strong and it grows dark and ensures your safety if evacuation advisories are issued by local bodies,” Yasushi Kajihara, director of the Forecast Division, told a news conference.

share Share

The World's Tiniest Pacemaker is Smaller Than a Grain of Rice. It's Injected with a Syringe and Works using Light

This new pacemaker is so small doctors could inject it directly into your heart.

Scientists Just Made Cement 17x Tougher — By Looking at Seashells

Cement is a carbon monster — but scientists are taking a cue from seashells to make it tougher, safer, and greener.

Three Secret Russian Satellites Moved Strangely in Orbit and Then Dropped an Unidentified Object

We may be witnessing a glimpse into space warfare.

Researchers Say They’ve Solved One of the Most Annoying Flaws in AI Art

A new method that could finally fix the bizarre distortions in AI-generated images when they're anything but square.

The small town in Germany where both the car and the bicycle were invented

In the quiet German town of Mannheim, two radical inventions—the bicycle and the automobile—took their first wobbly rides and forever changed how the world moves.

Scientists Created a Chymeric Mouse Using Billion-Year-Old Genes That Predate Animals

A mouse was born using prehistoric genes and the results could transform regenerative medicine.

Americans Will Spend 6.5 Billion Hours on Filing Taxes This Year and It’s Costing Them Big

The hidden cost of filing taxes is worse than you think.

Evolution just keeps creating the same deep-ocean mutation

Creatures at the bottom of the ocean evolve the same mutation — and carry the scars of human pollution

Underwater Tool Use: These Rainbow-Colored Fish Smash Shells With Rocks

Wrasse fish crack open shells with rocks in behavior once thought exclusive to mammals and birds.

This strange rock on Mars is forcing us to rethink the Red Planet’s history

A strange rock covered in tiny spheres may hold secrets to Mars’ watery — or fiery — past.