Thursday, July 26, 2007

‘Bebeng’ Pounds Okinawa; Plane Passengers Hurt

It was known as Typhoon “Bebeng” when I left Manila on board the Airbus Industries A320-100/200 Philippine Airlines (PAL) Flight PR 408 for Osaka. Bebang was reported to have “escaped” from the Visayas area and was heading for Okinawa Prefecture.
An hour before the plane landed at the Kansai International Airport, the passengers were greeted by turbulence, a sign that “Bebeng” had been following us all the way from the Philippines, Osaka being nearer to Okinawa Prefecture (faraway Nagoya and Tokyo were unscathed). We probably beat “Bebeng” by a few hours.
The next day, news broke out that a “powerful Typhoon signal No. 4 moved northward around the main island of Okinawa Prefecture, injuring seven people there. It quoted the Meteorological Agency which reported “it was expected to take an easterly course and hit southern Kyushu.”
“The Yamani region in Kagoshima Prefecture also entered the storm zone. In Okinawa Prefecture, damage caused by the typhoon continued,” reported The Yomiuri Shimbun. “Houses were flooded above floor level and transportation was almost completely stopped.”
The Meteorological Agency said the typhoon was about 120 kilometers west-northwest of Oki-noerabujima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, heading north at 25kph. It has the atmospheric pressure of 940 hectopascals and a wind speed of up to 162 kph near its center. Wind speeded up to 90 kph. The typhoon approached Shikoku after reaching the Pacific coastal region of Kyushu. (By Alex P. Vidal) /MP

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