Level 5 Landslide Warning Briefly Issued to Southwestern Japan Town

Tokyo, Sept. 5 (Jiji Press)--The Japan Meteorological Agency issued the highest Level 5 emergency landslide warning to the island town of Yakushima in Kagoshima Prefecture, part of the Kyushu southwestern region, at 5:10 a.m. Saturday.

From Friday night to early Saturday, the town was hit by heavy rain from linear precipitation zones that developed intermittently due to the effects of Typhoon Krovanh, the 24th typhoon of this year, and a tropical depression.

The warning was downgraded to Level 4 at 11:30 a.m., but the agency urged local residents to remain on high alert for landslides.

In the Onoaida district of the town, 24-hour rainfall reached 490.5 millimeters until 5:30 a.m., hitting a record high for the area. A maximum instantaneous wind speed of 25.9 meters per second was registered shortly after 12:30 a.m. Saturday.

Typhoon Krovanh is located over the sea north of the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa while the tropical depression is over the sea southeast of Okinawa, according to the agency.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]