Typhoon Ampil barreled toward Japan on Thursday packing strong winds and heavy rain, and forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights and trains in and around Tokyo.
The powerful storm had maximum sustained winds of 98 miles per hour, equivalent to those of a Category 1 hurricane, on Thursday afternoon, according to the U.S. Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center. By Friday, Ampil’s winds were expected to strengthen to 132 m.p.h., similar in strength to a Category 4 hurricane.
Ampil was expected to dump up to 7.8 inches of rain on Tokyo, the capital, and the surrounding area over a 24-hour period, bringing risks of landslides and flooding, Tachihara Shuichi, the chief forecaster for the Japan Meteorological Agency, told reporters on Thursday.
Travelers overwhelmed call centers on Thursday, said Japan Airlines, which canceled most domestic flights and some international ones to and from Tokyo’s Haneda and Narita airports on Friday. It cited the risk of “aircraft rotation” by the typhoon.
All Nippon Airways, Japan’s largest airline, said in an emailed statement that it had canceled more than 290 flights that were scheduled for Friday, affecting about 63,000 passengers.
Central Japan Railway suspended all rail service, including the Shinkansen bullet trains, between Tokyo and Nagoya, and between Nagoya and Osaka, on Friday. It also warned of delays on Saturday.
Another major rail operator, East Japan Railway Company, suspended many of its bullet and express trains around Tokyo on Friday.
Japan’s Coast Guard warned large vessels, container ships, ferries and tankers to leave Tokyo Bay indefinitely for waters less affected by the typhoon.
Ampil was forecast to move north along Japan’s eastern coast on Saturday before swerving eastward on Saturday, away from the country and into the Pacific, according to a storm track published by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. By then, the storm’s winds were forecast to have weakened to the equivalent of a Category 1 hurricane.
Typhoons are tropical cyclones that form in the Western Pacific or Indian Oceans with sustained winds of at least 74 m.p.h. The term “hurricane” refers to tropical cyclones in the Atlantic.
Scientists have established a consensus that climate change is causing tropical cyclones to become more powerful and making major storms more likely. They also agree that climate change affects the amount of precipitation storms produce.
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