Tokyo- Thousands of residents in northern Japan were ordered to evacuate on Thursday as a powerful typhoon bore down on the island of Hokkaido, weather authorities and local media reported.
Local authorities issued evacuation orders for thousands of residents in Nemuro city on the coast and neighbouring areas, as Typhoon Choi-Wan approached from the east, the Hokkaido daily reported.
About 170 flights have been cancelled and scores of train services suspended, the paper said.
The season’s 23rd typhoon, still several hundred kilometres east of Japan, had maximum sustained winds of 108kph and gusts of 62 kph, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
DPA