Typhoon Hit His Country, Japanese PM Delays Flight To New York

Photo via @JPN_PMO

JAKARTA - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida postponed his departure to New York after his country was hit by a strong typhoon.

Japanese PM Kishida was supposed to fly to New York on Monday afternoon, September 19.

There, PM Kishida will deliver a speech at the UN General Assembly. And this will be the first speech to be delivered in person by a Japanese leader since 2019.

Japan's PM Kishida postponed his trip by one day so he could monitor the damage caused by a powerful typhoon in southwestern Japan.

The delay comes as a large and powerful typhoon is expected to affect a wide area from west to north of Japan. It is expected the typhoon will linger along the country's main island of Honshu until Tuesday after making landfall in Kyushu the previous day.

Millions of people in Japan are under evacuation warnings as Typhoon Nanmadol brings strong winds and heavy rain to the country's southwest.

National broadcaster NHK said two people were killed and 60 injured as the storm passed through Kyushu. There was no immediate confirmation of the figure from authorities.

Officials from the Japan Meteorological Agency warned that in Miyazaki Prefecture, where some areas saw more rainfall in 24 hours than they normally receive throughout September, river levels were high.

"Even a little extra rainfall can cause water levels to rise, so please stay alert for floods and landslides," Yoshiyuki Toyoguchi of the land ministry told reporters.

However, given the intensity of the storm, which came ashore at speeds of up to 234 kilometers per hour, the damage appears to be relatively limited so far.