Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Typhoon Kong-rey: Potential threat to life as storm with gusts of up to 175mph moves towards Japan and South Korea

Heavy rain expected to bring flooding and landslides

Samuel Osborne
Tuesday 02 October 2018 17:19 BST
Comments
Japan is still recovering from Typhoon Trami, which brought heavy rains, strong winds and landslides
Japan is still recovering from Typhoon Trami, which brought heavy rains, strong winds and landslides (The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Japan is facing another dangerous storm as Typhoon Kong-rey tracks through the Pacific Ocean.

The Met Office warned of a potential risk to life as the storm brings maximum sustained winds of 120mph, with gusts of up to 175mph.

Heavy rain is expected to bring flooding and landslides.

Kong-rey is expected to move northwest over the next few days, before reaching Japan’s Ryukyu islands on Thursday, Richard Miles, a spokesman for the Met Office, told The Independent.

“We are anticipating the likely impacts from Kong Rey to be similar to that of similar storms such as Trami, Jongdari and Jebi.

“It could damage infrastructure and bring a risk to life, mainly as a consequence of flooding and landslides.”

Typhoon Trami

Japan is still recovering from Typhoon Trami, which made landfall on Sunday and brought heavy rains, strong winds and landslides.

The typhoon, rated by Tropical Storm Risk as a category 1, the lowest on a five-point scale, killed at least four people people, Channel News Asia reported.

Mr Miles said Typhoon Kong-rey “looks to have reached its maximum intensity at this point”.

Despite earlier predictions suggesting Kong-rey could hit China and Taiwan, Mr Miles said: “The most likely track is similar to Typhoon Prapiroon which hit Japan and South Korea in June and July and that created heavy flooding and mud flows.

“Although the track is likely to be the same, it doesn’t look like the impact will be as great."

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in