TOKYO, Sept 26 (AFP) - Typhoon Meari roared into the East China Sea across Japan's southern Okinawan islands Sunday, halting airline and ferry services, officials and press reports said. The Japan Meteorological Agency said the typhoon packed winds of up to 144 kilometres an hour as it moved west between Miyako and the main island of Okinawa. Meari was located at sea, about 100 kilometres north east of Miyako at 4:00 p.m., the agency said. High waves and strong winds paralysed traffic in the Okinawan region where up to 200 millimetres of rain was expected to fall in 24 hours. About 220 domestic flights to and from the region were cancelled, affecting about 43,000 travellers, Kyodo News reported. Ferry services the Okinawa islands with Kagoshima on the southern main island of Kyushu were suspended, the report said.

This Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) image acquired over the East China Sea, shows Typhoon Meari (centre image), across Japan's Southern Okinawan Islands.