Typhoon Ampil was moving past eastern Japan on Friday as a “very strong” storm, bringing heavy winds and torrential rain to a wide area. But with the center of the storm remaining over the ocean, the region avoided a worst-case scenario.
Kanagawa Prefecture reported several injuries due to strong winds, NHK reported. A man in the city of Kawasaki lost a finger when a door slammed shut at 10 a.m., and a woman in her 70s in the city of Fujisawa city sustained minor injuries after being knocked down by the wind.
A man in his 70s in Ibaraki Prefecture was reportedly taken to a hospital Friday afternoon after he was blown over by a strong gust of wind, and the city of Mito in the prefecture saw glass shards scattered across a shopping arcade after strong winds broke windows, the broadcaster reported.
Tokyo also saw minor damage, with a concrete utility pole snapping in Ota Ward, within 1 km of JR Kamata station, and a tree falling in Shibuya ward, blocking the roadway, NHK reported. In Chiba Prefecture, sparks from severed power lines in the city of Oamishirasato and flooding in Ichikawa have been reported near a shopping center, to the point where some of the tires of passenger cars are submerged, the network said.
Level 4 evacuation orders were issued in the Chiba Prefecture cities of Mobara and Asahi, as well as in the city of Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture. Level 3 advisories, encouraging the elderly and those with disabilities to evacuate, were issued in various cities in Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa, Ibaraki and Fukushima prefectures. Power outages were also being reported around the Kanto region.
The storm, referred to by the Meteorological Agency as Typhoon No. 7, has also disrupted transportation networks during a peak holiday travel period, with some railway services, including the bullet train line connecting Tokyo and Nagoya, suspending services.
While the storm will not make landfall, its impacts are being felt in the Kanto-Koshin, Tohoku and Tokai regions as it reaches its peak intensity, with the weather agency warning of fierce winds, high waves, landslides and flooding.
As of 8 p.m. Friday, Typhoon Ampil, categorized by the weather agency as “very strong,” was about 140 km southeast of the city of Choshi, Chiba Prefecture, moving north-northeast at 15 kph. It had a central atmospheric pressure of 950 hectopascals, with maximum sustained winds at its center of 162 kph and gusts of up to 216 kph. The storm is set to maintain its strength overnight, before curving out to sea later on Saturday.
As Japan approaches the end of the Bon summer holiday, Ampil is wreaking havoc on transportation networks, stranding travelers returning home. Over 900 flights have been canceled to and from Narita and Haneda airports, according to an NHK tally. The Tokaido Shinkansen has been suspended for the entire day between Tokyo and Nagoya, while services on the Tohoku, Yamagata, and Joetsu shinkansen lines have been scaled back, according to JR East.
Local lines across the Kanto region are also heavily affected, with many suspended and others facing significant delays. Tokyo Metro has announced planned suspensions on the Tozai Line, halting services between Toyocho and Nishi-Funabashi stations from 10:30 a.m. until late evening. The segment between Nakano and Toyocho stations will operate with reduced frequency.
The Ueno-Tokyo Line has suspended most services for the day, while the Joban and Joban Rapid lines have partially suspended operations between Ueno and Shinagawa. On the Sobu Rapid and Keiyo lines, trains running directly from Chiba Prefecture have been canceled. The Yurikamome Line, which connects Shimbashi to Toyosu via Odaiba, also reduced its services from 5 p.m.
The Shonan-Shinjuku Line is also facing severe disruptions, with services suspended all day between Odawara in Kanagawa Prefecture and Takasaki in Gunma Prefecture. Additional cancellations include operations between Zushi in Kanagawa Prefecture and Utsunomiya in Tochigi Prefecture.
JR East is also experiencing cancellations on some of its express services, including the Narita Express.
Meanwhile, department stores in Chiba Prefecture, such as Sogo and Ito-Yokado, closed temporarily, and Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea, which are located in Chiba, closed at 3 p.m.
Robert Speta, a meteorologist and typhoon expert, said the storm’s track means Japan is avoiding a worst-case scenario, noting that the most dangerous winds are limited to a very small inner core.
“Even the difference of a few kilometers from the eyewall could be the difference between 150 kph or 50 kph,” Speta said, describing the storm’s wind speeds. “Thus that destructive inner core staying offshore makes a massive difference.”
But Speta warned that areas along the coast could still see damaging winds.
“The way I like to describe a storm that is skirting the coast like this is imagine you are standing on the side of a highway as semitrucks are flying by at over 100 kph,” Speta said. “You are more or less ‘safe’ as long as the truck stays on the road. But if it changes course even just a little bit toward the curb where you are standing, it can make all the difference in those impacts.”
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