Photo/Illutration The expected path of Typhoon No. 7 (Taken from the Japan Meteorological Agency website)

Powerful Typhoon No. 7 is projected to slam into the main island of Honshu or Shikoku around Aug. 15, and the Japan Meteorological Agency is now gearing up to issue heavy rainfall warnings.

As of early Aug. 12, the typhoon was located south of the Japanese mainland and moving slowly northwestward, the JMA said.

The agency said the typhoon will still be very strong when it hits on Aug. 15. It projected heavy rainfall over mainly Pacific coastal areas from Aug. 14 to 15.

The typhoon was located north of Chichijima island in the Ogasawara Island chain, some 1,000 kilometers south of Tokyo, as of 9 a.m. on Aug. 12. It had a central pressure of 950 hectopascals and maximum sustained winds of 162 kph.

From Aug. 14 onward, heavy rain will fall mainly on the Pacific side of the country, the agency said. Depending on the path of the typhoon, heavy rainfall warnings will be issued.

Rainfall for the 24 hours until the morning of Aug. 14 is expected to be in the range of 50 to 100 millimeters mm in the Kanto-Koshin region, the Izu Islands and the Tokai region.

For the following 24 hours, the agency predicted 200 to 300 mm of rainfall for the Tokai region; 100 to 200 mm for the Kinki region; 100 to 150 mm for the Shikoku region; and 50 to 100 mm for the Kanto-Koshin region and the Izu Islands.

Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) said it has no plan to suspend Tokaido Shinkansen Line operations on Aug. 13 due to the approach of Typhoon No. 7.

However, it said there is a possibility of cancellations and suspensions of bullet train runs from Aug. 14 to 16.

Conventional railway lines in its area will also remain operating on Aug. 13, but will be closed on the afternoon of Aug. 14 and thereafter on the Kansai, Kisei, Sangu and Meisho lines, according to JR Tokai.

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