Tropical storm force-winds and heavy rain ripped across Okinawa and some of theRyukyu Islands Thursday as Typhoon Chaba turned northeast, passing just east ofthe island of Okinawa. Sustained winds of 56 mph were recorded at Minamidaito,an island just east of Okinawa.Typhoon Chaba will weaken to a tropical storm as it heads toward the southernmainland of Japan this weekend. While the eye of this storm is expected to passjust east of Japan, damaging winds and flooding rain will affect southern andeastern Japan today through Saturday, EDT.
By AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Mike Pigott
