Typhoon Fitow Approaches Tokyo; Flights Canceled , Alerts Raised

September 6, 2007 ( Bloomberg ) -- Japan issued warnings for high waves, strong winds and flooding, and some flights were canceled as Typhoon Fitow approached land west of Tokyo with winds as high as 147 kilometers per hour ( 92 miles per hour).

The eye of Fitow was 434 kilometers south of Tokyo at 9 a.m. Japan time today, according to the latest advisory on the Web site of the Japan Meteorological Agency. The storm was moving north at 20 kilometers per hour.

The agency issued warnings for high waves, heavy rain and flooding for Tokyo and surrounding prefectures and 12 flights were canceled from the capital to islands in the region of the typhoon, which is classified as ``strong.''

Fitow's winds were blowing at 120 kilometers per hour, with gusts to 175 kilometers per hour, the Japan weather agency said. The eye of the storm is forecast to make landfall near the Izu peninsula, southwest of Tokyo, tomorrow.

Japan is regularly buffeted by tropical cyclones during the northern hemisphere's summer, and three people died last month when Typhoon Man-Yi swept across Okinawa and Kyushu.
The typhoon's maximum winds will be 147 kilometers an hour by tomorrow, making it a Category 1 storm, the weakest on the five-step Saffir -Simpson scale, according to the latest advisory from the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center .

U.S. Navy forecasters say Fitow , the 10th storm of the northwest Pacific cyclone season, will probably strengthen as it approaches land. The Japan weather agency counts Fitow as the ninth storm of the season.

Fitow is the name of a flower found on the island of Yap in Micronesia, according to the Web site of the Hong Kong Observatory, which lists cyclone names in use in the Pacific.
A record 10 tropical storms and typhoons hit Japan during 2004, killing more than 60 people and causing billions of dollars of damage.