MidnightWatcher's Blogspot

By Aaron Sheldrick and Tsuyoshi Inajima – “Typhoon Songda strengthened to a supertyphoon after battering the Philippines and headed for Japan on a track that may pass over the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant by May 30, a U.S. monitoring center said.

Songda’s winds increased to 241 kilometers (150 miles) per hour from 213 kph yesterday, the U.S. Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Center said on its website. The storm’s eye was about 240 kilometers east of Aparri in the Philippines at 8 a.m. today, the center said. Songda was moving northwest at 19 kph and is forecast to turn to the northeast and cross the island of Okinawa by 9 p.m. local time tomorrow before heading for Honshu.

The center’s forecast graphic includes a possible path over Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant, which has been spewing radiation since March 11 when an earthquake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems. Three of six reactor buildings have no roof after explosions blew them off, exposing spent fuel pools and containment chambers that are leaking.” Read more.

Fukushima nuclear plant is not fully prepared to deal with violent storms – “TOKYO: Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is not fully prepared to deal with violent storms, officials admitted Saturday, as the country braced for Typhoon Songda to hit. The storm system was located about 30 kilometres southwest of Miyako-jima Island, near Taiwan, as of 3:00 pm, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.” Read more.

Update: Typhoon Songda Nearing Tokyo Weakens to ’Extratropical Cyclone’ – “Typhoon Songda, the storm last week forecast to pass over Japan’s stricken nuclear plant, weakened to an “extratropical cyclone” after its forecast trajectory earlier moved south of Fukushima prefecture.” Read more.