The most powerful typhoon this year, Typhoon Vongfong, made a landfall on Saturday, injuring at least a dozen people as it hits the southern Okinawan Islands with driving rains and ferocious winds.

The storm was approximately 125 miles, or 200 kilometers, southeast of Naha City in the nation's southernmost region of Okinawa at 3 a.m., according to Japan's meteorological agency.

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Although the super typhoon was downgraded by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, Japanese officials said it remained "large and very strong" and forewarned the public of torrential rains, gusts, high waves and landslides.

While the storm was crawling north very slowly at 10 kilometers per hour, it was packing gusts with speeds of up to 234 kilometers.

After brushing off Okinawa by early Monday, Vongfong is anticipated to reach close to Japan's southern main island of Kyushu.

The meteorological agency said that it may then slam into the archipelago.

Okinawa has already been experiencing heavy rains and gusts, which resulted to blackouts in over 17,000 households.

A municipal official said that at least 12 people are documented to have been injured in the region, including a man whose fingers were severed after being caught in a door slammed shut by the powerful winds.

Public broadcaster NHK announced that several more people had been hurt, including a nine-year-old girl whose finger was also caught in a door.

Vongfong has a perfectly formed eye in the middle of its big swirling cloud disc, according to images taken by satellites that passed over or near the storm.

The storm came in the wake of another powerful typhoon that passed through the country, leaving 11 people missing or dead, in the country prone to natural disasters.

Weeks ago, a volcano in the center of the country suddenly erupted, killing at least 55 hikers. On Saturday, a 6.1 magnitude earthquake shook northern Japan.

TagsSuper Typhoon, Super Typhoon Vongfong, okinawa, Kyushu, Naha City, typhoon, Storm, tropical storm, Volcano, volcano eruption, earthquake