Typhoon Khanun brought heavy rain to parts of Japan's southwestern island of Kyushu on Wednesday as it moved slowly near the region, causing numerous injuries, power outages and disruptions to shinkansen bullet train services and flights.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said the slow-traveling typhoon could cause mudslides, floods and strong winds, while linear rainbands, known to bring torrential downpours, developed in southern Kyushu, one of Japan's four main islands, after occurring in Tanegashima and Yakushima islands off southern Kyushu.

Regions spanning western through eastern Japan on the Pacific coast are on track to receive record-breaking rainfall for August, the agency added.

Numerous injuries have been reported due to the extreme weather conditions, including a man in his 20s in Kagoshima who sustained a bruised knee after being hit by a sheet of corrugated iron blown by strong winds.

Evacuation orders have been issued by a number of local governments in Kyushu, with over 6,000 people taking refuge in evacuation shelters in Kumamoto, Nagasaki, Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures.

According to Kyushu Electric Power Co., about 12,000 households in the four prefectures plus Oita remained without power as of 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Among the halted railway operations were Kyushu Shinkansen services between Kumamoto and Kagoshima-Chuo stations as well as Nishi Kyushu Shinkansen services between Takeo-Onsen and Nagasaki stations.

The Sanyo Shinkansen line will suspend the start of operations on Thursday from the first train until 8 a.m. between Hiroshima and Kokura stations for post-typhoon damage inspections.

All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines canceled a total of over 400 flights, primarily landing and departing from Kyushu on Wednesday, affecting more than 45,000 passengers. Some flights on Thursday are also expected to be canceled.

As of 9 p.m., Typhoon Khanun was moving north from the south of Goto, Nagasaki Prefecture, with an atmospheric pressure of 975 hectopascals at its center and packing winds of up to 144 km per hour, according to the weather agency.

Rainfall of up to 300 millimeters is expected in the island of Shikoku, and up to 250 mm in northern and southern Kyushu, over the 24 hours through 6 p.m. Thursday.

==Kyodo

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