Updated Apr. 12, 2020 10:19 PM
A potent storm threatening Japan with flooding rainfall and strong winds will encourage people to remain indoors after officials declared a state of emergency and encouraged increased social distancing due to the ongoing global pandemic.
The storm that brought flooding rainfall to areas of southeastern China through the late last week will continue to inflict the same threat on Japan early this week.
After sweeping through China, the storm moved out over the East China Sea into Sunday. The storm is forecast to continue strengthening over the open water, pulling in more moisture and expanding the swath of rain across the region.
Rain that arrived in the Ryukyu Islands on Saturday night continued into Sunday morning.
On Sunday, rain spread into southern Japan from Kyushu to Chubu and southern Kanto with the heaviest falling late in the day and overnight.
As of Saturday evening, local time, 25-75 mm (1-3 inches) of rain has already been reported in parts of southern Japan. Shimizu has the highest rainfall total so far with 83.0mm (3.27 inches) reported.
Rain expanded farther north into Chubu, Kanto and Tohoku on Monday. The heaviest rain will shifted into this area late Sunday night and is expected to continue for much of the day Monday.
Some rain will also reach far enough north to dampen parts of southern South Korea early this week.
Totals rainfall amounts of 25-75 mm (1-3 inches) are expected across much of the country. Rounds of downpours can bring 75-125 mm (3-5 inches) of rain across Shikoku and much of southern Honshu.
"An AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 200 mm (8 inches) is most likely in the mountains across Honshu," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Houk.
Such a heavy rainfall so quickly may lead to flooding in low-lying and poor drainage areas. The risk of mudslides will also increase in the rugged terrain.
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As the storm intensifies, it will also bring strong wind gusts to Japan that can lead to localized damage and flooding along exposed coasts. Winds of 72-88 km/hr (45-55 mph) are expected in parts of Kyushu, Shikoku, and Honshu, according to Houk.
"An AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 65 mph (105 km/h) can occur, mainly along the southern coast of eastern Honshu where the strongest winds will be coming from the east," Houk said.
This storm can also bring enough colder air for precipitation to fall as snow above 1,200 m (4,000 feet).
Late Monday afternoon and overnight, the storm will begin to move east away from the country. Rain will end across southern locations and begin to taper off in northern areas.
Wet weather will encourage residents across the country to remain indoors, decreasing person-to-person contact. A state of emergency has been declared in Japan after a sharp increase in positive cases of COVID-19. No official lockdown has been issued as of Monday, local time.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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