Tropical cyclone Paolo (international name Lan), is now a super typhoon, the U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) said Saturday morning.

It is currently packing 240 kilometers per hour maximum sustained winds and gusts reaching 296 kph, according to one-minute readings made by the U.S. Navy-Air Force command based in Hawaii.

Paolo is expected to reach peak strength at 259 kph maximum sustained winds and 314 kph gusts in the next 12 hours before hitting the Japanese mainland, the JTWC said.

The JTWC track indicates landfall close to the Japanese capital Tokyo.

Paolo did not make landfall over the Philippines but triggered heavy rains that caused floods in the Visayas and Mindanao.

• PANOORIN: Dumaguete City, isinailalim sa state of calamity dahil sa bagyong Paolo

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) has classified the typhoon as "very strong".

"It will likely rain very heavily in the Nansei island chain (in southern Japan), in the Pacific side of western and eastern Japan from the 21st to 23rd. There is a chance it will rain violently in some regions," the JMA said in a statement.

The Philippine state weather bureau PAGASA, in its latest advisory on the typhoon issued at 4 a.m. Saturday, said the tropical cyclone's outer rain bands may cause light to moderate with occasionally heavy rains which may cause flooding and landslides, as well as strong winds in the Visayas, Cagayan Valley, Ilocos Region, Bicol Region, MIMAROPA, and Zamboanga Peninsula.

• PANOORIN: Malakas na ulan, baha, landslide, nagbabadya sa ilang bahagi ng Visayas at Mindanao

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