Strong Winds, Heavy Rain Hit Japanese Islands

Accra, Sept. 13, (dpa/GNA) - Typhoon Talim strengthened near southern Japanese islands on Wednesday, bringing torrential rains and devastating winds to the region, weather authorities said.

Trees were uprooted and power lines knocked down on Miyako Island and its neighbouring islands, according to the Ryukyu Shimpo newspaper, as the Japan Meteorological Agency put them on maximum alert.

About 16,700 households on the islands were without power, the paper said.

"We will start recovery work as soon as the wind and rain dies down," Okinawa Electric Power said, according to the report.

Ninety flights and more than 300 passenger ships were cancelled in Okinawa prefecture, as the outer bands of the season's 18th typhoon had already arrived in the region in the morning, local media reported.

The agency warned the storm could generate waves of up to 11 metres and maximum gusts of 216 kilometres per hour (kph).

The storm is also expected to dump rainfall of up to 250 millimetres in the Okinawa island region by Thursday evening, the agency said.

As of 6 pm (0900 GMT), the storm was centred about 70 kilometres north-east of Miyako Island, travelling north-west at 15 kph with maximum sustained winds of 162 kph and gusts of 216 kph.

Typhoon Talim also affected Taiwan as the country's Central Weather Bureau issued a heavy rain warning to six cities and counties in the north.

The storm brought rainfall of 70 mm in Taipei on Wednesday, the bureau said.

Meanwhile, China issued warnings that two typhoons were set to hit the country, one headed for Zhejiang province to the south-east and another for Hainan province in the south, reported state media on Wednesday.

The second-highest orange warning was issued by China's National Meteorological Centre for Typhoon Talim, which is forecasted to hit Zhejiang on Thursday or Friday, reported state news agency Xinhua.

Talim "could intensify to a super typhoon," it said.

An alert was also issued for Typhoon Doksuri, which is set to either skirt past Hainan Island or land in the coastal areas of Hainan province between Thursday night and Friday, said Xinhua quoting the Hainan province weather bureau.

In August, Typhoon Hato - one of the strongest storms on record to hit China, devastated the former Portuguese colony of Macau, causing 10 deaths and more than a billion US dollars worth of damage to the casino city.

GNA