JOIN USThe typhoon, located in waters near Okinawa Prefecture, brought rains to parts of Nara and Wakayama prefectures where landslides triggered by a powerful typhoon earlier this month produced mud dams, which are now in danger of collapsing and flooding downstream areas if additional rain accumulates.
The water level of the mud dam in the city of Tanabe in Wakayama had risen to 70 centimeters below its full capacity as of 10 am today from 2.5 meters at midnight yesterday, according to local authorities.
If the level climbs high enough to cause a breach, it could lead to serious flooding downstream, they said.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said the weather gets better in the Kii Peninsula, where Nara and Wakayama prefectures are located, for Sunday but a substantial amount of rain is expected in the region on Monday.
The regional branch for the western Japan areas of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said it is monitoring water levels of those dams around the clock as the fear of a burst in those mud dams remains.
As of 12 pm, the typhoon, the season's 15th, was located about 50 kilometers south of Minami-Daito Island, slowly moving northeast and bringing strong winds of up to 162 km per hour, the weather agency said.