Kong-rey slams South Korea, aims for mainland Japan
After battering parts of the Ryukyu Islands and South Korea, Kong-rey now has its sights set on mainland Japan into Sunday.
After turning toward the north and making landfall in southern South Korea, Kong-rey has weakened to a tropical storm.
A total of 276 flights were canceled in South Korea due to the storm, according to the News Straits Times.
According to The Guardian, two people have been killed in South Korea and another person remains missing.
<center><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Typhoon Kong-Rey has passed. We’re still getting some strong winds. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OkiOkiOkinawa?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OkiOkiOkinawa</a> <a href="https://t.co/Shumpzl5fS">pic.twitter.com/Shumpzl5fS</a></p>— JustBeing_JuJu (@julibell_75) <a href="https://twitter.com/julibell_75/status/1048127109304991744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 5, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Kong-rey will rapidly track toward the northeast, passing over Hokkaido from Saturday night intp Sunday morning. Despite weakening, Kong-rey will still bring the risk for localized flooding and damaging winds to Hokkaido and northern Honshu during this time.
Rainfall will average 25-75 mm (1-3 inches), with locally higher amounts in northern Hokkaido. Wind gusts of 90-120 km/h (56-75 mph) will be possible across northern Honshu and the southern coast of Hokkaido.
If Kong-rey makes landfall in mainland Japan, it will be the ninth tropical system and potentially the eighth typhoon to do so this year.
“The record for land-falling typhoons in a single season is 10 from 2004,” said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Jason Nicholls.
Since Japan has been battered by numerous tropical systems, along with the historic flooding and deadly heat wave, Kong-rey can also put additional strain on the nation's disaster recovery budget.
A break in tropical activity is forecast across the West Pacific Ocean this week, bringing relief to areas that have endured multiple strikes in recent weeks.
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