Typhoon Faxai Nears Central Japan; Flights Canceled

By Ron Rhodes

Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Typhoon Faxai is on a path to reach Japan's central island of Honshu tonight, bringing rain and winds gusting to 144 kilometers per hour (90 miles per hour), the Japan Meteorological Agency reported on its Web site.
The storm was moving northeast at 65 kilometers per hour and was expected to reach the Izu island chain about 200 kilometers southeast of Tokyo tonight, the agency said. As much as 200 millimeters (8 inches) of rain may fall in some parts of central Japan tomorrow.
All Nippon Airways canceled the day's flights between Tokyo and the Izu islands, the airline said on its Web site. Tokai Kisen, which operates ferries between the islands and Tokyo and Shizuoka Prefecture, canceled some services, the company said on its Web site.
The storm may weaken and spread as it makes landfall, the weather agency said. It issued advisories of heavy rain and six- meter waves off Japan's coast, predicting as much as 120 millimeters of rain and winds up to 90 kilometers per hour as Faxai passes the Kanto area, which includes Tokyo.
Faxai, which Japan counts as the 20th typhoon of the season, is expected to pass south of Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido tomorrow, the agency said.
Japan is regularly buffeted by tropical cyclones during the northern hemisphere's summer. Three people died in July when Typhoon Man-Yi swept across Okinawa and Kyushu and two people were killed in September when Typhoon Fitow hit Tokyo.
A record 10 tropical storms and typhoons made landfall in Japan during 2004, killing more than 60 people and causing billions of dollars of damage.