Powerful typhoon heads for Japanese island

A large and powerful typhoon was moving towards Japan's fourth-largest island Tuesday and was expected to make landfall in the next few hours, authorities said, according to dpa. Typhoon Ma-on was 40 kilometres east of Shikoku island's Cape Ashizuri in Kochi prefecture as of 5:40 pm (0840 GMT), travelling north-north-east at 15 kilometres per hour, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. Twenty-two people have been injured in weather-related incidents on the Pacific side of southern and western Japan despite warnings from the agency of strong winds, heavy rains and large waves associated with the typhoon, the public broadcaster NHK said. The report added that 428 flights in the region were cancelled Tuesday. Because the typhoon was moving slowly, rainfall could surpass 1,000 millimetres all down the Pacific side of the country, the weather agency said. In Kochi prefecture, rainfall had already exceeded this level, NHK said. The typhoon had maximum sustained winds of 144 kilometres per hour and gusts of 198 kilometres per hour, the agency said.