Hagibis, a typhoon hurdling towards Japan, could be the strongest typhoon on record. All Nippan Airways have canceled all domestic flights for 24 hours on Saturday, and two major sporting event have also been rescheduled. Although typhoons aren’t that common in the west, they’re a regular occurrence in Japan, whose infrastructure was built to withstand regular annual storms.
Another Typhoon
A month ago, Faixi, a typhoon, roared through the Bosu Peninsula in Japan, leaving broken windows and damaged roofs of 30,000 houses in its wake. Now, only a month later, Japan braces for another typhoon- a super typhoon that is expected to be the strongest in the past century.
Japan expects as much as 30 inches of rain to be dropped this weekend from the storm; the eye alone is 55 miles wide, and the whole typhoon is more massive than the entirety of Japan.
Rescheduling Events
The approaching storm has already forced officials to cancel two rugby World Cup games on Saturday as well as canceling all Japanese Formula One Grand Prix practice and qualifying sessions, which were scheduled for Saturday. Prix officials did say that the qualifying rounds will be held Sunday morning, before the race, which will continue as planned on Sunday afternoon.
Tokyo airports have also suffered from Hagibis, two major Japanese airlines, ANA and JAL, are canceling 558 and 540 flight respectively on Saturday. Major airlines around the world are also canceling flights to Tokyo this weekend, but experts predict that the disruption of the typhoon shouldn’t last over 24 hours. [1]
Wind gusts are estimated to be over 240km per hour with a current pressure of 900 hPa- the strongest Tropical Cyclone ever recorded was Typhoon Tip, which reached 870 hPa. [2]
Notes:
- ^Craft, Lucy. “Typhoon Hagibis – Japan braces for monster typhoon bearing down on Tokyo area today.” 11 Oct. 2019, www.cbsnews.com/news/typhoon-hagibis-japan-braces-for-monster-typhoon-bearing-down-on-tokyo-area-today-2019-10-11. (go back ↩)
- ^Asquith, James. “The Century’s Strongest Super-Typhoon Hagibis Is About To Hit Japan—1,600 Flights Canceled.” Forbes, 11 Oct. 2019, www.forbes.com/sites/jamesasquith/2019/10/11/the-centurys-strongest-super-typhoon-hagibis-is-about-to-hit-japan1600-flights-cancelled. (go back ↩)
