An emergency storm surge warning was issued by Japan's Meteorological Agency early Tuesday for Miyako island and adjacent islets in Japan's southernmost prefecture of Okinawa as a powerful typhoon approached to the islands.
The agency also maintained highest-level storm and high-wave warnings already in place against Typhoon Neoguri for Miyako and the main island of Okinawa, urging residents there to be on maximum alert.
The season's eighth typhoon, the strongest one in July, is possibly to make landfall at Kyushu area in southwest Japan on Thursday and also has the possibility to affect Honshu area, where Osaka and Tokyo are located, according to local reports.
As of 6 a.m., the strong typhoon was heading northwest around 100 kilometers southeast of Miyako at a speed of 25 km per hour, with an atmospheric pressure of 930 hectopascals at its center and gusts of up to 252 kph, according to the agency.