Typhoon Goni battered Japan's southwestern main island of Kyushu earlier yesterday and is moving north over the Sea of Japan, leaving around 60 people injured in its wake, as gale force winds smashed windows and tossed cars in its path, Japan's Meteorological Agency said Tuesday.

Advisories of storm surges and high waves have been given by the JMA for the entire Chugoku region, which lies next door to Kyushu, and the Tokai region in central Japan. In fact, the majority of southern Japan is under the JMA's advisory, which could also mean that landslides, floods and tornadoes could affect the area.

The JMA issued a more serious warning of possible floods, heavy rain and landslides to western and northern areas of Japan that fall in Goni's flight path.

The typhoon, which took the lives of at least 26 people, destroyed 1,000 homes and forced 12,000 people to flee, due to landslides and floods in the Philippines at the weekend, made landfall in southwestern Kumamoto Prefecture at around 06:30 a.m. JST.

The storm then moved out to sea from Fukuoka Prefecture in the north, with the typhoon causing power outages affecting some 470, 000 households on Kyushu, while 83,000 households in Fukuoka Prefecture were issued evacuation orders.

In Kumamoto, some 22,000 households were also issued with evacuation advisories, and in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, 130,000 households received the order.

Transportation networks were also severely disrupted by the typhoon, with the Kyushu Shinkansen Line suspended due to the dangerous conditions, although resumed operations in mid-afternoon, and the Sanyo Shinkansen Line was also halted, owing to Goni's ferocity.

Local flights in and out of Kyushu airport were also canceled, including a total of 180 All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines flights, with other local flights at affected airports also being canceled, the transport ministry said.

According to JMA, rainfall peaked at 120 mm per hour in the city of Fukuoka and Saga city, and at 110 mm in the cities of Itoshima and Kitakyushu also in Fukuoka, with winds gusting up to 165 kilometers per hour in Makurazaki, Kagoshima Prefecture, 157 kph in Ikata, Ehime Prefecture, and 151 kph in the city of Kumamoto, according to the weather agency.

As the typhoon moves north at a speed of 30 kph with gusts up to 180 kph, further downpours are expected for Wednesday, with as much as 250 mm expected in areas in the Kinki and Tokai parts of the country.

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