Typhoon heads for Japan, threatening heavy rain

TOKYO, July 12 (Reuters) A powerful typhoon headed north towards Japan today, threatening to rake the southern islands of Okinawa and the country's main islands with torrential rain and high winds.

Typhoon Man-yi was 600 km south of the Okinawan city of Naha at 1:00 p.m. (0930 hrs IST) and moving north northwest at 25 km (16 miles) per hour, bringing with it winds gusting up to 234 km per hour, Japan's Meteorological Agency said.

''By late tonight, Okinawa will be experiencing strong winds, and by noon tomorrow the storm should be quite close to Naha,'' an agency forecaster said.

''It's an extremely strong storm, and people will have to watch out for heavy rains and high winds.'' The storm, classified as a category 4 typhoon by UK-based Web site Tropical Storm Risk (www.tropicalstormrisk.com), was likely to bolster the activity of the annual rainy season front and pound much of the nation with torrential rain.

At particular risk is the southernmost main island of Kyushu, where heavy rains this week have already caused flooding and road collapses, forced the evacuation of a handful of families, and left one man dead.

Heavy rain warnings were issued for Okinawa and Kagoshima on Kyushu, along with an area in central Japan.

The storm is currently predicted to come close to Kyushu on Saturday before weakening and heading northeast, brushing by Tokyo sometime on Sunday.

REUTERS AE DS1202