Typhoon Hagibis latest: Rugby World Cup and Japan braces as super storm approaches

The storm, which could be the strongest to hit the country in decades, is due to make landfall on the main island on Saturday evening before working its way north

Japan is entering into lockdown ahead of the expected havoc set to be wrought by Typhoon Hagibis over the coming weekend, with hundreds of flights cancelled and stores, factories and subway systems due to be closed.

The storm, which could be the strongest to hit the country in decades, is due to make landfall on the country’s main island on Saturday evening before working its way north.

The eye of the storm is 55 miles wide alone, and satellite imagery shows the entire typhoon is currently larger than Japan itself.

Flights in and out of the country have suffered extensive disruption so far, with Tokyo’s two main airports facing the most cancellations. It was announced on Friday that All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines had cancelled more than 1,000 flights scheduled for Saturday, both domestic and international.

The repercussions are being felt around the globe, with British Airways scraping flights from London, and routes to North America also affected.

Meanwhile, railway operators said they would suspend bullet trains between Tokyo and Nagoya in central Japan and most operations between Nagoya and Osaka, in western Japan, from Saturday morning. Most train and subway lines across Tokyo are also due to shut.

Tokyo Disneyland said it would close its theme park on Saturday, its first weather-related closure since a snowstorm in 1984. The retail giant Seven & I Holdings said it would shut 124 outlets in the Tokyo area throughout Saturday. Toyota Motor Corp also announced it was suspending production at three factories in the country.

Officials in the Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo, which was hit hard by Typhoon Faxai a month ago, have told people to prepare supplies of food and water for up to three days. Some supermarkets have ran out of bottled water and batteries. Twitter users posted photographs of bare shelves and traded tips on how to prepare for disruptions to water and power cuts.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, Hagibis could trigger record rainfall on par with a deadly typhoon in 1958 that triggered mudslides in the Kanto region, leaving 888 dead and 381 missing.

Typhoon Hagibis, which means “speed” in the Philippine language Tagalog, has already forced the cancellation of two matches at the Rugby World Cup – England’s clash with France and New Zealand’s encounter against Italy – while the Pool A decider between Japan and Scotland remains on red alert.

Under the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale used in the United States, the typhoon is currently considered the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane but is due to downgrade to a Category 4 before making landfall, with record-levels of rain and winds up to 135mph expected in the worst-hit areas of Japan.