TOKYO: Typhoon Shanshan traveled east over Pacific waters south of the Kii Peninsula in western Japan on Saturday morning after crossing the Shikoku western region earlier in the day.

The 10th typhoon of the year is expected to move northward over the peninsula on Sunday and then turn into a tropical cyclone by the small hours of Monday.

With heavy rains seen hitting the Pacific side of the Kinki western, Tokai central and Kanto-Koshin central to eastern regions, the Japan Meteorological Agency is warning people to be on high alert for landslides, inundation of low-lying areas and swollen rivers. Some areas in the Tohoku northeastern region and the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido also had torrential rains.

There is a possibility of linear precipitation zones, or strings of developed rain clouds that often bring torrential rain, being formed in the Tokai region toward Sunday morning, according to the agency.

The city of Atami in Shizuoka Prefecture, part of Tokai, saw a rainfall of 509.5 millimeters in the 48 hours until 6 a.m. Saturday, while the amount of rain in the 48 hours until 6:10 a.m. totaled 461.5 millimeters in the city of Odawara in the eastern prefecture of Kanagawa. The figures represented record 48-hour amounts of rain in both cities.

The Hokkaido city of Yubari had a rainfall of 67 millimeters in the hour to 7:55 a.m., also a record high.

As of 9 a.m. Saturday, Typhoon Shanshan was moving east-southeast at a speed of 15 kilometers per hour over Pacific waters about 50 kilometers south-southwest of the city of Tanabe in Wakayama Prefecture on the Kii Peninsula.

It had a central atmospheric pressure of 996 hectopascals, packing a maximum sustained wind speed of 18 meters per second and a maximum instantaneous wind speed of 25 meters per second.

The amount of rain in the 24 hours until 6 a.m. Sunday is forecast to reach up to 300 millimeters in Tokai, up to 200 millimeters in Kinki, up to 150 millimeters in Kanto-Koshin, up to 120 millimeters in Shikoku, up to 100 millimeters in the Hokuriku central region and up to 80 millimeters in the Chugoku western region.

In the following 24 hours until 6 a.m. Monday, rainfall is seen totaling up to 400 millimeters in Tokai, up to 200 millimeters in Kinki and Kanto-Koshin, up to 100 millimeters in Hokuriku and up to 80 millimeters in Shikoku.

JIJI Press