MINAMATA, (Japan): Thousands of people took refuge in shelters in southwestern Japan on Sunday as powerful Typhoon Nanmadol churned towards the region, prompting authorities to urge over four million residents to evacuate.

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) has issued a rare “special warning” for Kagoshima and Miyazaki in the Kyushu region — an alert that is issued only when it forecasts conditions seen once in several decades.

By Sunday morning, heavy rain and high winds lashed the area on Japan’s southern island, with nearly 98,000 households in Kagoshima, Kumamoto, Nagasaki and Miyazaki already without power.

Trains, flights and ferry runs were cancelled until the passage of the storm, and even some convenience stores — generally open all hours and considered a lifeline in disasters — were shutting their doors.—AFP