Tropical Storm Chan-hom Batters Japan's Pacific Coast, Flights Grounded

Tropical Storm Chan-hom is churning toward northeastern Japan, bringing powerful waves and prompting widespread flight cancellations. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) reported the storm was approximately 260 kilometers off the southeastern coast of Fukushima prefecture as of late Tuesday morning.

The storm is packing sustained surface winds of 82.8 kilometers per hour. Footage from the eastern coast of Chiba, northeast of Tokyo, showed high waves crashing against the shoreline as the system approaches.

The JMA expects Chan-hom to make landfall late Tuesday in the greater Tokyo region. The storm is then projected to cut across the main archipelago toward the Korean Peninsula, bringing heavy rain and strong winds along its path.

Forecasters predict up to 180 millimeters of rainfall over the next 24 hours across eastern and northern prefectures. Dozens of flights in and out of Haneda and Narita airports have been canceled due to the storm.

Ground transportation, including the Shinkansen bullet train network, has so far remained unaffected by the weather system.