Super Typhoon Hinnamnor, world’s strongest storm of 2022, bears down on Japan and China

Hinnamnor is packing sustained winds of about 260km per hour – making it the strongest storm of the year, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency

The Hong Kong Observatory said the typhoon was forecast to move west-southwest towards the Ryukyu Islands from Japan’s Okinawa

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Pedestrians struggle against heavy rain and strong winds in Japan amid a typhoon earlier this month. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 4:01pm, 31 Aug 2022Updated: 4:11pm, 31 Aug 2022

The strongest global storm of 2022 is barrelling across the East China Sea, threatening Japan’s southern islands and risking wild winds along China’s east coast.

Super Typhoon Hinnamnor is currently packing sustained winds of about 160 miles (257 kilometres) per hour and has gusts over 195 miles per hour, according to the US Joint Typhoon Warning Centre. The maximum significant wave height is 50 feet (15 metres).

Hinnamnor would be the strongest storm of 2022 based on the maximum sustained wind speed recorded at this point, according to an official at the Japan Meteorological Agency.

Some of the islands are remote with only several hundred residents, but the region as a whole has around 1.4 million people, and the Okinawa mainland hosts most of the US military bases in Japan.

The weather agency expects the storm will strengthen to its top category “violent” from Wednesday evening, with gusts up to 270 kilometres per hour.

The intense winds from Wednesday may cause “some houses to collapse”, the Okinawa unit of the national weather agency said. Heavy rain and high waves will also hit the region.

“Please exercise serious caution for violent wind. Take precautionary steps such as moving to strong buildings before strong winds begin,” the agency said.

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