Hundreds of thousands of people in southwestern Japan were ordered to evacuate as slow-moving Typhoon Dolphin approached the region, bringing violent winds, heavy rain, and high waves.

Typhoon Details

The Category 1 typhoon had maximum sustained winds of 144 kph with gusts reaching 198 kph and was nearing a chain of islands between the Kyushu region and Okinawa prefecture, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

Authorities issued evacuation orders for nearly 260,000 residents in Kagoshima and Okinawa prefectures, while Toyota suspended work at nine factories on Friday.

The large storm was also enveloping much of the southernmost main island of Kyushu with strong winds, including Kumamoto prefecture, still reeling from last week’s magnitude 7.1 earthquake.

Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.