Powerful Typhoon Unleashes Blinding Rain Over Miyakojima

Blinding rain swept across parking lots and streets in Miyakojima as Typhoon Champi battered Japan’s southern Okinawa islands on Friday morning, October 23.

X user Harnon filmed the storm from a high vantage point, captioning the clip “Miyakojima this morning.” Trees bend violently in the wind as gusts of rain sweep across an almost empty shopping center parking lot, and buildings in the distance fade in and out behind the gray curtain of rain.

The large and very strong typhoon, known in Japan as Typhoon No. 30, brought record rainfall to the island. All four observation points in Miyakojima City broke their October records for 24-hour rainfall, and a level 4 landslide warning was issued for the city.

On the evening of October 22, a woman in her 70s in Miyakojima was blown over by the strong winds and broke her leg. All flights to and from the Sakishima Islands were canceled on October 23, and schools and government offices were closed.