tokyo.- Hundreds of flights have been canceled this Monday and Tuesday due to Typhoon Lan approaching the Japanese western Pacific coast, which has also caused the suspension of rail services, affecting numerous travelers during the Japanese vacation period.
The Lan, the seventh typhoon of the season in the Pacific, was moving this Monday at about 15 kilometers per hour in a northwesterly direction through that ocean and is expected to make landfall in the Wakayama prefecture (west) during the day on Tuesday, according to data from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).
The entire central and eastern Pacific coast of the archipelago is under meteorological alert due to the risk of flooding and landslides, among other accidents, derived from rainfall of more than 450 millimeters forecast for the next 24 hours and gusts of wind from 26km/hour.
TRANSPORT INTERRUPTIONS
The airline Japan Airlines (JAL), one of the main airlines in the country, announced the suspension for today of 19 flights to or from Itami (west), and another 240 flights on Tuesday have been canceled, affecting some 24,800 travelers.
ANA, Japan’s other largest airline, reported the cancellation of another 310 domestic flights on Tuesday, most of them also to or from Itami.
For its part, the railway company JR Central has announced that the high-speed Tokaido Shinkansen line will be totally suspended on Tuesday between the stations of Nagoya and Shin-Osaka (west), and JR West has warned that operations between Shin-Osaka and Okayama could also be significantly affected.
The number of trains that cover the route between Tokyo and Nagoya will be considerably reduced due to the influence of the storm and although in principle no suspension of operations was planned for this Monday and Wednesday, the operating company has warned about the possibility of sudden changes depending on its evolution.
The typhoon, which had remained practically static for several days before heading towards the Japanese archipelago, was already leaving rain today in large regions of the island of Shikoku (west) and the Kanto region, on the island of Honshu, where Tokyo is located. .
The approach of the typhoon to Japan has coincided with the festive period of Obon, in which the deceased are remembered and during which celebration there is a large number of trips for family gatherings.
This year has been the first since covid-19 was equated to the seasonal flu, with a greater increase in domestic travel, as well as tourists during the summer period.
Lan comes shortly after the passage of Khanun, the previous Pacific typhoon of the season, which in the last two weeks has hit the southwest of the Japanese archipelago and the Korean peninsula, causing extensive flooding, extensive material damage and several deaths.
