Okinawa Islands prepare as tropical storm nears
NAHA, JAPAN >> A weakened Tropical Storm Mawar headed toward Japan’s southern archipelago of Okinawa on Thursday, leading businesses and the airport to close and fishermen to batten down their boats in preparation.
Many residents in the prefectural capital of Naha on the main Okinawan island, where about 20,000 U.S. forces are based, appeared unworried even as they took precautions.
Mawar, formerly a typhoon but now packing winds of up to 66 miles per hour, was around Miyako, one of Okinawa’s remote islands, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. The storm could approach Okinawa’s main island today and bring powerful rainstorms to the region, it said.
A 76-year-old fisherman, Tatsunori Yamashiro, said he wasn’t too worried by the weakening storm.
“All I can do now is to wait,” he said, sitting in his fishing boat, which he’d securely tied to a port facility. He said Mawar could have caused damage if it hit Okinawa when it was a typhoon. “It’s now weakening, and because the water temperature around Okinawa is not very high, it will continue to get smaller.
Mawar largely skirted Taiwan and the Philippines after tearing across Guam last week. It passed by Taiwan on Tuesday with sustained winds of 96 mph and gusts of up to 118 mph, sending high waves crashing on the island’s east coast.
In the Philippines, authorities said heavy rains were expected to continue in the country’s north through at least Thursday and warned of flooding, possible landslides and gale-force winds before the typhoon exits the country’s area of responsibility.
Another fisherman in Okinawa, Ryo Niinuma, 27, said he tied up his boat and cushioned its sides so that it wouldn’t get bumped by boats next to it.
“We are used to typhoons,” he said.
People on Okinawa had been preparing for the approaching typhoon when a warning siren awoke them Wednesday to alert them to a North Korean rocket launch. Officials urged people to stay indoors or take shelter underground in case of falling debris.