Tokyo, August 3 (RHC)-- Two people are reported dead in Okinawa, state broadcaster NHK says, as slow-moving Typhoon Khanun continues to bring heavy rain and gusty winds to southern Japan, prolonging the damage potential of the storm.
A total of 41 people in Okinawa and Kagoshima prefectures were injured, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, and some 166,000 households were out of power on Thursday morning. Naha Airport, located in Okinawa's capital city and the main gateway to the popular tourist destination, resumed operations on Thursday after shutting down for two days, but hundreds of flights remained canceled.
The storm in the East China Sea was heading northwest and is projected to change direction to move east towards the country's mainland through Tuesday, but its path was not determined, according to NHK.
Kadena experienced gusts of up to 90 mph, according to the weather flight, while other parts of the prefecture have seen 145 mph winds, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
Okinawa island is home to the nearly all of the 80,000 U.S. military soldiers stationed in Japan, and to installations of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps.
Khanun passes the island two months after Typhoon Mawar brushed Guam, a U.S. island territory about 1,415 miles southeast of Okinawa. Guam residents, including the island’s sizeable military community, were without water and power in some sections for weeks afterward; final stages of the cleanup are still underway.
