Powerful Typhoon Haishen approached South Korea on Monday after slamming southern Japan with record winds and heavy rains that prompted evacuation warnings for millions.

Initial assessments suggested the storm had done less damage than feared, though hundreds of thousands of homes were left without power across much of Japan’s southern Kyushu island.

At 7 am (6am Bangkok time), the typhoon was 30 kilometres north of Tsushima island and was categorised as a “large” and “strong” storm, having weakened overnight, but was still packing gusts up to 216 kilometres per hour. Several dozen mostly minor injuries were reported.