TOKYO: Typhoon Maria, the fifth typhoon of the season, is forecast to make landfall in the Tohoku region in northeastern Japan from the Pacific coast on Monday and reach the Sea of Japan coast, while bringing heavy rains.

On Saturday, the Japan Meteorological Agency and the land ministry urged people in the region to be on alert for possible landslides, flooding of low-lying areas, swollen rivers, and violent winds.

“Total rainfall from Sunday to Monday may exceed the amount for the whole of August in an average year,” Shuichi Tachihara, chief forecaster at the agency, told a press conference. Especially in Iwate Prefecture, rainfall may reach around 400 millimeters, he added.

Tachihara urged people to take measures to protect their lives without hesitation, based on evacuation information released by local governments.

With the typhoon approaching during the country’s “bon” summer holiday period, the agency official also called on people to be flexibly reconsider their travel plans.

Meanwhile, Satoshi Omatsu, head of the land ministry’s river management office, noted that some levees in Yamagata and Akita prefectures have not been fully repaired after major flooding in late July. “It is necessary to be on higher alert for swollen rivers and floods,” Omatsu warned.

As of 3 p.m. Saturday, the typhoon was moving north off the east coast of the Kanto eastern region at a speed of 20 kilometers per hour. With a central atmospheric pressure of 985 hectopascals, the typhoon had a maximum wind speed of 25 meters per second.

In the past, there were two typhoons on record that made landfall in Tohoku from the Pacific coast, in August 2016 and July 2021. The former caused severe damage, including nine deaths at a flooded elderly facility.

JIJI Press