Japan cancels flights, suspends trains as two tropical storms approach

Japan canceled more than 200 flights and suspended dozens of train services as the country braced for a pair of tropical storms approaching from different directions on Friday.

Storms Mekkhala and Higos were moving in from the southwest and the east, respectively, and were likely to converge over or near the main archipelago.

What path is tropical storm Mekkhala on?

Mekkhala, which was previously rated as a typhoon but was since downgraded to a severe tropical storm, already skirted past Taiwan and the Japanese island of Okinawa far to the south of the main islands on Friday.

Taiwan, to the southwest of Okinawa, suffered heavy rains while flights from Okinawa's Naha Airport were severely disrupted.

Despite the downgrade, the storm was still packing wind gusts of up to 144 kilometers (89 miles) per hour on Friday afternoon.

Mekkhala was expected to make landfall on the main Japanese islands, in the southwestern region of Kyushu, in the early hours of Saturday morning.

What path is tropical storm Higos on?

Tropical storm Higos' path across the Philippine Sea southeast of Japan has not skirted as close to significant land masses so far.

However, it is forecast to potentially approach the Japanese mainland just to the south of Tokyo, where it could converge with Mekkhala as that storm veers east across Japan.

This could result in the atmospheric phenomenon known as the Fujiwhara Effect, when two nearby cyclones interracting with each other, often unpredictably, making it difficult to forecast their strength and movement.

How were authorities and companies responding?

Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways canceled a total of 120 flights to and from Okinawa and Kagoshima — a city on the far southern tip of Kyushu.

Around 1 million people were advised to leave their homes as a precaution, amid fear of landslides.

Kyodo news agency reported that Toyota has suspended production at a facility in Kyushu because of rain-induced road closures, with Nissan also saying it planned to halt some production lines.

Western Japan was already reporting heavy rains on Friday afternoon as the storm moved towards Kyushu.

Officials in Kyoto and Osaka further northeast said water levels in rivers were rising and warned of possible flooding.