A million warned to evacuate as typhoon nears Japan

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More than a million people in Japan were warned to leave their homes on Tuesday as an approaching typhoon brought heavy rain and fears of landslides and flash flooding.

Typhoon Roke, packing winds of up to 144 kilometres (89 miles) an hour near its centre, could land in central Japan on Wednesday and move northeast, possibly towards the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, the Japanese weather agency said.

"While keeping its strength, the typhoon could make a land fall on Wednesday," an official with the Japan Meteorological Agency said in a televised press conference.

"We ask that the highest level of caution be used because of the heavy rain, strong wind, and high waves."

The city of Nagoya, a regional commercial hub located near the home of Toyota Motor, issued an evacuation advisory to some 1.09 million residents, because of worries that rivers might burst their banks.

Nationwide, evacuation advisories have been issued to a total of 1.32 million people, national broadcaster NHK said.

It was not known how many people have heeded the warning, which falls far short of a mandatory evacuation order.

Water has poured into Nagoya's subway system and underpasses, with television images showing pedestrians walking through knee-deep water and assisted by rafts operated by firefighters.

The typhoon was located 200 kilometres southeast of Tanegashima island, in southern Kagoshima, as of 4:00 pm (0700 GMT), and was on course to hit Nagoya and the main island of Honshu on Wednesday, the weather agency said.

The storm was then expected to move towards the disaster-ravaged Tohoku region north of Tokyo, with the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant located on its possible path.

Roke was expected to move to northernmost Hokkaido by Thursday afternoon, the weather official said.

"Its speed will accelerate. In similar cases in the past, we have seen strong wind and high waves occur suddenly. Rain will increase in northern Japan. We ask that people take early counter-measures," he said.

The storm has already dumped 400 millimetres (16 inches) of rain over the past 24 hours on the southern province of Miyazaki.

The agency warned of downpours over a wide area of the country on Wednesday, saying as much as 50 millimetres of rain could fall in an hour.

Japan was hit by Typhoon Talas earlier this month, leaving around 100 people dead or missing, mostly in the west of the country.