Goni Batters Japan as Typhoon Kills 10 People in Northern Philippines

Aug 24, 2015 12:03 PM EDT

Japan on Monday braces for typhoon Goni Monday as the typhoon heads into the region after barreling northern Philippines, killing at least 15 people and leaving three others missing, weathermen reported.

Typhoon Goni gained strength on  Sunday after dumping heavy rains in the Philippines and leaving a trail of destruction with  record-shattering wind gust to the Japanese island of Ishigakijima.

A report by weather.com said that Goni packs a gust of wind of 150.7 mph, or 67.4 meters per second, at 10:18 p.m. local time, which was 9:18 a.m. ET on Sunday morning. The Japan Meteorological Agency reported that the typhoon reached a maximum gust of 158.8 mph, or 71 meters per second, on Sunday, breaking the site's all-time record of 157 miles per hour, which was set in 1977.

Typhoon Goni reached the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane at 4pm ET on Sunday, according to the Saffir-Simpson Scale.

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center, or JTWC, which is a joint center run by the U.S. Navy and Air Force, has forecasted that typhoon Goni will be around nautical miles west of Kadena Air Base on Monday and make landfall on Sasebo, Japan on Tuesday.

Sasebo has a population of roughly 280,000 and is expected to still feel the wrath of Goni with an equivalent of Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustain winds between 96 to 110 miles per hour, weathermen said.

The typhoon is also forecasted to veer near the Korean Peninsula and dump heavy rains and batter South Korea and North Korea with strong winds on Wednesday.

The Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council in the Philippines that 12 people were killed after rocks and mud buried their houses in the northern highlands. The Office of the Civil Defense reported that three other people died elsewhere in nearby provinces by a landslide, a fallen tree and drowning in a river, while three others were missing after being separately swept away by river currents.

An estimated 32,000 have been evacuated to temporary shelter because of the flooding.

Benguet Governor Nestor Fongwan said several days of torrential rains caused the creek to swell which saturated the mountain slope causing mud and landslide to gold-mining communities.

"They were sleeping when a huge chunk of the mountain came down and buried their work sites," Fongwan said. "We're still hoping that we'll find survivors. We're still calling it a search and rescue operation."

The Taiwanese island of Lanyu, southeast of the main island of Taiwan, has reported wind gusts up to 72 mph (32 meters per second).

Lanyu also picked up 9.94 inches (252.5 millimeters) of rain Friday through Sunday morning, including 6.59 inches of rain Saturday alone.

Goni began a period of rapid intensification Monday morning (Sunday evening mainland U.S. time) while moving west away from Guam and Saipan. Winds increased 60 mph in the 24 hours from 5 a.m. EDT Sunday to 5 a.m. EDT Monday, according to the U.S. military's Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC). This includes an increase of 40 mph in just six hours late Sunday from 5 p.m. EDT to 11 p.m. EDT. This is the equivalent of jumping from Category 1 to Category 4, with winds peaking at 130 mph.