By Joseph Campbell and Kim Kyung-Hoon
ISHIGAKI, Japan, July 10 (Reuters) – A large and powerful typhoon approached a remote chain of islands in Japan’s southwest on Friday, prompting authorities to warn of violent winds, torrential rain, landslides and flooding in what could be the region’s most destructive storm in years.
Early on Friday, Typhoon Bavi was nearing Japan’s Sakishima Islands — a remote chain of islands near Taiwan — with maximum sustained winds of 162 kph (100 mph), prompting locals to tape up windows and drape windproof nets across homes and shops.
Airlines cancelled dozens of flights in the region, including for Saturday.
In Ishigaki, one of the islands in the Sakishima chain popular with tourists, residents stocked up on supplies, emptying shelves of instant noodles at a local supermarket. Some public beaches and coastal parks and the local ferry terminal appeared closed.
“I heard that this one will be pretty big,” said Hiroshi Nomura, as he strung windproof nets across his bicycle rental store. “I’m a little concerned about whether our typhoon preparations are enough.”
TAIWAN READIES FOR DELUGE OF RAIN
In neighbouring Taiwan, financial markets closed for the day, with a large swathe of the north and east also off work. The Taipei city government set up stations for residents to collect sandbags.
Bavi is not expected to make landfall in Taiwan but will dump huge amounts of rain on the island — some areas could get up to one metre (3.3 feet) of rain — starting late on Friday.
The government said more than 1,000 people have been evacuated, mainly from the mountainous eastern coast, and nearly 29,000 military personnel were on standby to help relief efforts.
“Although the typhoon has weakened slightly and has been downgraded to a moderate typhoon, its storm radius is large and it may still bring strong winds and heavy rain to many areas,” Taiwan President Lai Ching-te wrote on his Facebook page.
Taiwan’s airlines have cancelled all of their flights on Saturday from the main international airport at Taoyuan outside Taipei.
TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said it would delay the scheduled release of its June sales data from Friday to Monday.
Late on Saturday, Bavi is forecast to make landfall around the eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou, home to 10 million people.
(Reporting by Joseph Campbell and Kim Kyung-Hoon in Ishigaki; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Taipei and Joe Cash in Beijing; Writing by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Tom Hogue)
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