Japan issues highest alert over typhoon Neoguri

Japan was bracing for one of its worst storms in over a decade as typhoon Neoguri barreled towards the southern Okinawa island chain, with 55,000 people urged to evacuate as the weather agency issued its highest alert.
The top-level warning means a threat to life, as well as the risk of massive damage from torrential rains and gusts of up to 250 kilometres (155 miles) per hour.
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued the alert for Okinawa's main island, home to around 1.2 million people, as well as the outlying Miyako islands.
"We advised all 55,000 people in Miyako at 10:00 pm (1300 GMT yesterday) to evacuate to facilities such as community centres and municipal buildings," Miyako disaster official Katsuhiro Koja told AFP by telephone.

The Kadena Air Force Base, the biggest US Air Force base in the Pacific, located on Okinawa's main island, evacuated some of its aircraft as officers stressed that Neoguri may be deadly.
Waves could reach as high as 14 metres (45 feet), a weather agency official said in a warning that was likely to revive memories of Japan's quake-tsunami disaster in 2011.

The typhoon, which was downgraded from super typhoon status as it approached the islands today, was some 300 kilometres (190 miles) south southwest of the Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa at 6:00 am local time (2100 GMT yesterday), according to the US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

The storm was moving north northwest at about 13 nautical miles (24 kilometres, 15 miles) per hour, it said.
"Record-level violent winds and high waves are posing a serious danger to the Miyako island region," Satoshi Ebihara, the Japanese weather agency's chief forecaster, told an evening news conference.
"People are advised to refrain from going outdoors... evacuate if necessary before violent winds occur and take appropriate action to protect themselves," he said.
The massive gusts and torrential rains will possibly reach mainland Japan by Wednesday, a weather agency official said yesterday.