A massive typhoon on course to hit Japan over the weekend is as powerful as the deadly storm that ripped through the Philippines last year killing thousands of people, meteorologists said yesterday.
The monstrous storm, named Typhoon Vongfong, was picking up speed as it churned through the far west of the Pacific Ocean.
“Its strength is very much similar to [Typhoon] Haiyan,” which ravaged the Philippines in November last year, a meteorologist at the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
Haiyan left nearly 8,000 people dead or missing when gusts of about 300kph tore through the country, generating giant waves that swamped coastal communities.
Typhoon Vongfong was registering gusts of the same strength, according to the Japanese agency.
Satellite images of Typhoon Vongfong show a perfectly formed eye in the middle of a gigantic swirling disc of cloud sucking ip moisture from the tropics.
Its present course will see it smash into Japan over the weekend, just days after another typhoon whipped through the country, leaving 11 people dead or missing and causing travel chaos.
Vongfong is expected to continue strengthening over the next 24 hours, but could lose some steam as it heads north.
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