Storm could cause up to €9 billion in damage
Typhoon Shanshan is continuing its journey west of Japan on Sunday, where it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday with devastating winds and rain that could cause property damage worth up to €9 billion, according to forecasts.
Shanshan is now 950 kilometres south of Kochi, Japan, with maximum winds of 128 kilometres per hour; a Category 1 storm on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale, according to the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center.
However, all forecasts point to it becoming a Category 3 storm as it approaches the coast of Japan later this week, according to the country’s meteorological agency.
The typhoon will bring a strong storm surge wherever it hits, but its main threat may be torrential rain that will drench a wide area in western Japan and its south-facing coast.
‘Shanshan’ will probably make landfall in Shikoku and then cross southern Honshu, destroying everything in its path, Chuck Watson, an expert in disaster models at Enki Research, estimated on Sunday to the Bloomberg agency, following an analysis that predicts damages and losses worth between 5 and 9 billion euros.
The forecast for the path has varied in recent days, according to Watson, who has warned that, in the remote possibility that the storm crosses the Osaka-Kobe area, the damages could amount to between 11 and 19 billion euros.
