KADENA TOWN, Okinawa — About 100 residents in the Mizugama neighborhood alongside Highway 58 will have to temporarily evacuate their homes Sunday for the removal of an unexploded warhead found nearby on Kadena Air Base.

The warhead was discovered in August by a Navy crew during the construction of a concrete gazebo near Gate 4, according to Air Force and Navy officials.

The warhead is an American-made, 5-inch High Velocity Aircraft Rocket left over from World War II, the 18th Wing said in a release.

About 200,000 tons of bombs were dropped on Okinawa between the 1944 air raids in Naha by Allied forces and the Battle of Okinawa in 1945, said Masaru Kaneko, a spokesman for the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force in Naha.

The warhead will be removed by the 18th Wing’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Flight and taken to the air base’s munitions storage to be destroyed, said wing spokesman Maj. John Hutcheson.

A 415-foot safety cordon will be set up Sunday to include a stretch of Highway 58 outside Gate 4 and homes in Mizugama, the Kadena Town General Affairs Office said Friday.

Evacuation procedures are set to start at 9:20 a.m. and last about 30 minutes, Hutcheson said.

Around 10:30 a.m., Okinawa police will briefly stop traffic on Highway 74, near a tunnel that connects the air base and its munitions storage area, while the warhead is transported there, Hutcheson said.

America Town goes international