Japan on alert as powerful typhoon approaches

Typhoon Melor, on course to batter the main island of Honshu on Thursday, would be the first to make landfall in Japan since 2007.

"We are issuing storm and high-wave warnings as the typhoon is seen as one of the strongest for the past decade," said Shinichi Nakatsukasa, a weather forecaster at the Meteorological Agency.

The storm was packing gusts of up to 216 kilometres (134 miles) an hour, moving east of Amami-Oshima island in Japan's far south early Wednesday, the agency reported.

"Rain will be very heavy and winds will also be fairly strong on land. It is likely to make landfall with a violent force," another agency official said.

A total of 10,600 households were without electricity early Wednesday in Okinawa, Amami-Oshima and other southern islands, according to local power companies.

Some roofs were blown off in while trees and power poles were toppled, but there were no reports of injuries, according to local officials, who urged residents to be on alert.

"We have advised people who plan to evacuate to do so during daytime, before winds become any stronger," disaster management official Koki Ishino said.

At least 145 domestic flights were grounded due to strong winds in western Japan, affecting more than 6,000 passengers, while most ferry services were suspended in the region.

A 46-year-old surfer drowned in rough seas in Kanagawa prefecture, southwest of Tokyo. Police said they were investigating whether the death was caused by high waves brought by the approaching typhoon.

Officials in southwest Kagoshima prefecture advised residents to put shields on windows, fill their bathtubs in case of water supply cuts and gather daily necessities for possible evacuation.

The storm could dump torrential rain of 500 millimetres (20 inches) on southwestern Japan over 24 hours to early Thursday, the weather agency said.

Melor may rip through the archipelago on a course similar to a 1959 typhoon that left thousands dead.

Since then efforts have been made to strengthen homes and equip coastal areas with storm surge barriers.

Melor, which means jasmine in Malay, is the latest in a series of powerful typhoons to batter Asia in recent weeks.

In August, Typhoon Etau brought flashfloods and landslides that killed at least 25 people in Japan, even though it avoided a direct hit.

Another powerful storm, Ketsana, has caused devastation across Southeast Asia, killing hundreds of people, mostly in the Philippines and Vietnam. In Taiwan more than 600 people died after Typhoon Morakot struck in August.

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