© NASA / Getty
The potentially catastrophic Typhoon Chaba is set to reach mainland Japan at some point today, with coastal cities particularly at risk.
As the powerful typhoon, which has record breaking winds of up to 375 kilometres-per-hour - the highest on record since monitoring began in 1951 - battered the south coast of South Korea, it is now barrelling towards northern Japan.
Major cities such as Niigata, on the east coast, and Sendai, on the west coast, are particularly vulnerable.
The two cities have a combined population of almost two million people, with a further 300,000 in the mainland city of Fukushima, which the typhoon will also pass over.
© ACCUWEATHERThe trajectory of the typhoon
The typhoon has already claimed its first victims in South Korea when the devastating winds caused a crane to topple in the port city of Busan, resulting in one death, while another man died during flooding in the southern city of Ulsan.
© NASAThe eye of the storm
© AFPThe storm has already hit South Korea
However, the Tropical Storm Risk tracker service has claimed that Chaba is expected to weaken slightly by the time it hits mainland Japan, although it will still pack powerful wind strength.
© AFPAt least two people are reported to have died in South Korea as a result of Chaba
© AFPJapan is expected to be worse of than South Korea
The previous strongest was Typhoon Vera in 1959 which caused 4,000 deaths. However Typhoon Vera swept across the mainland, while only the tail end of Chaba is expected to rock Japan.
Typhoon Morakot slammed into China's east coast Sunday just hours after nearly 1 million people evacuated the area.
A spokesman for NASA said: "Warm sea surface temperatures and low vertical wind shear are two factors that helped Chaba become a Super Typhoon."
is that the previous strongest ever typhoon was in 2015, and the previous strongest before that was in 2013...
"...the JTWC estimated the system's one-minute sustained winds to 315 km/h (195 mph), unofficially making Haiyan the strongest tropical cyclone ever observed based on wind speed, a record which would then be surpassed by Hurricane Patricia in 2015 at 345 km/h (215 mph)."
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