Strong typhoon heads for Japan and Fukushima nuclear plant

A typhoon described as the “strongest in 10 years” was closing in on Japan on Tuesday, on a path that will take it towards the precarious Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Typhoon Wipha, packing winds of nearly 200 kilometres per hour near its centre and bringing heavy rains, was in the Pacific south of Japan on Tuesday evening, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

The storm was moving north at 35 kilometres per hour, according to the agency.

It was forecast to reach an area off the Tokyo metropolitan area by early Wednesday, and later in the day would be off the coast of Fukushima, where the crippled nuclear power plant sits.

“It is the strongest typhoon in 10 years to pass the Kanto region (Tokyo and its vicinity),” Hiroyuki Uchida, the agency’s chief forecaster, told a news conference.

“It is expected to have a great impact on the traffic systems in the metropolitan area during commuting hours,” he said.