Japan warns one million to evacuate as typhoon nears
More than a million people in Japan were warned to leave their homes yesterday as an approaching typhoon brought heavy rain and fears of landslides and flash flooding.
Typhoon Roke, packing winds of up to 144 kilometres an hour near its centre, could land in central Japan today and move northeast, possibly towards the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, the Japanese weather agency said.
"While keeping its strength, the typhoon could make a land fall on Wednesday," an official with the Japan Meteorological Agency said in a televised press conference.
"We ask that the highest level of caution be used because of the heavy rain, strong wind, and high waves."
The city of Nagoya, a regional commercial hub located near the home of Toyota Motor, issued an evacuation advisory to some 1.09 million residents at one point because of worries that rivers might burst their banks.
The advisory was lifted from parts of the city, but landslide, flooding and tornado warnings affecting over a million people were still in place as night fell.
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