The Japan Railways Group has announced that some bullet train services may be cancelled on Sunday and Monday due to a severe typhoon.

The Kyushu Shinkansen’s operator announced around midnight on Saturday that it had made the decision to cancel Sunday’s service between Kumamoto and Kagoshima Chuo. It stated that beginning around midday, service between Hakata and Kumamoto will be suspended.

According to other operators, service on the Tokaido Shinkansen and the Sanyo Shinkansen between Hiroshima and Hakata may be suspended starting Monday morning.

Typhoon Nanmadol is predicted to make landfall in Japan on Sunday, and the weather agency has ordered almost two million people to seek shelter before it arrives, according to the country’s public broadcaster NHK.

NHK, which gathers local government notifications, reported on Saturday that people in Kagoshima, Kumamoto, and Miyazaki in southern Kyushu were under level four evacuation orders, the second highest.

The move came after the Japan Meteorological Agency put out its highest alert for the Kagoshima area. This alert is given when the agency predicts conditions that haven’t been seen for decades.

Since the start of the current system in 2013, it is the first typhoon-related special warning to be issued outside of the Okinawa region.

The agency’s highest category, “violent,” was assigned to Typhoon Nanmadol on Saturday night as it lingered about 200 kilometres (124 miles) north-northeast of Minami Daito island, one of a string of remote isles that make up the Okinawa region. Its maximum sustained winds were 270 kilometres per hour (168 miles per hour).

On Sunday, the typhoon is anticipated to approach or make landfall in Kagoshima Prefecture. The following day, it is forecast to travel north before making landfall on Japan’s main island.

The head of the forecasting division of the Japan Meteorological Agency, Ryuta Kurora, told reporters that there was a chance for record rainfall, high waves, storm surges, and previously unheard-of storms.

“Maximum caution is required,” he said, urging residents to evacuate early.

“It’s a very dangerous typhoon.”

“The wind will be so fierce that some houses might collapse,” Kurora told reporters, also warning of flooding and landslides.

Image Credit: Getty

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