Typhoon Ampil veers away from Japan, allowing trains, some flights to resume

TOKYO: A typhoon that blasted parts of Japan with more than 200kmh winds moved out to sea on Saturday (Aug 17), mostly sparing Tokyo and allowing trains and some flights to resume.

Tokyo and its surrounding areas had been on high alert on Friday for Typhoon Ampil’s approach, with transport services, trips, events and school classes cancelled en masse.

The storm was packing gusts of 216kmh on Saturday morning when it veered away from the archipelago and headed northeast into the Pacific.

Even so, the Japan Meteorological Agency warned that “some areas in the northern part of Japan are experiencing heavy rain due to warm, humid air around the typhoon”.

“Please be advised that the risk of landslides has been significantly elevated by the heavy rain so far in some areas”, the weather agency said in an advisory on Saturday morning.

Although the feared catastrophe in Tokyo never came, some minor injuries and damage were reported, including broken windows, toppled trees and broken utility poles.

Most parts of Japan’s bullet train network went back to normal on Saturday, after the Central Japan Railway Company closed a busy section between Tokyo and Nagoya the day before.

“JR Central bullet trains are business as usual today,” the railway firm said on its website.

Airlines were still being affected to a degree, with broadcaster NHK saying All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airlines had together scrapped 68 flights as of Saturday morning, after hundreds of cancellations the day before. 

Several Singapore Airlines (SIA) flights to and from Tokyo on Thursday were also affected by weather conditions caused by Typhoon Ampil.