Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: MASAKI AKIZUKI / YOMIURI / THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN VIA AFP 11:27 am, August 07, 2023

Typhoon Khanun, which has been hitting Japan for nearly a week, is now heading towards the island of Kyushu forcing organizers of the commemorations of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki to adopt a reduced format. For the first time in 60 years, the memorial service for the victims will not take place outdoors.

After hitting Okinawa hard last week, Typhoon Khanun was heading for Kyushu, Japan's large island in southwestern Japan, on Monday, forcing organizers of commemorations of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki to adopt a scaled-down format. For the first time in 60 years, the annual ceremony scheduled for Wednesday in Nagasaki in memory of the victims of the bomb dropped on August 9, 1945, will not take place outdoors but in a convention center in the port city.

As a result, the number of participants has been sharply reduced and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will not attend the event. Typhoon Khanun was about 350 km south of Kyushu on Monday and was generating winds of up to 144 km / h, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). It warned of the likelihood of "heavy rainfall" in its wake, which increases the risk of flooding and landslides.

Two dead and a hundred injured last week

This tropical storm has already raged last week in the archipelago of Okinawa, at the southern tip of Japan, causing two deaths and a hundred injured, and depriving several hundred thousand homes of electricity.

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The typhoon then headed for China, before making a complete U-turn and crossing Okinawa in the opposite direction, with a slightly lower power than during its first pass. After the west coast of Kyushu, the typhoon is expected to continue northward and reach South Korea on Thursday.