'Super typhoon' heading for Okinawa, South Korea

NASA

This satellite-based image shows Super Typhoon Sanba in the Philippine Sea on Thursday.

By Miguel Llanos, NBC News

A storm packing 170 mph winds was bearing down on the southern end of Japan's Okinawa Island, where locals and U.S. military personnel stationed at several bases were quickly stocking up and battening down.?

Sanba, dubbed a "super typhoon" by meteorologists, is the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane. Named storms west of the international dateline in the Northwest Pacific Ocean are called typhoons, not hurricanes.

After swiping southern Okinawa this weekend, Sanba is projected to make landfall in South Korea with winds still above 100 mph.

"The center will pass close to Okinawa this weekend and then Sanba, in a less-intense but still potent state, is expected to reach South Korea Sunday night or Monday," weather.com reported.

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On Okinawa, the Stars and Stripes news website for U.S. military personnel was reporting that military commissaries were packed with people buying food and emergency supplies.

"We?re already seeing/feeling Super Typhoon Sanba?s most outer bands," the report stated. "If it?s sitting outside the garage, put it inside. If the garage door is still open, shut it. If the trampoline is still up, take it down."

Up to a foot of rain was forecast for the area.

Related: Ahead of typhoon, China ships approach islands claimed by Japan

Some 80,000 U.S. citizens are on Okinawa, nearly 30,000 of them U.S. military personnel. Okinawa's total population is some 1.3 million people.?

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Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/14/13862369-super-typhoon-with-170-mph-winds-heading-for-okinawa-and-south-korea?lite

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