Tropical storm injures 22 in Japan
A powerful tropical storm hit southern Japan today, disrupting transport and whipping up waves and winds that damaged homes, downed electricity lines and forced thousands to evacuate their homes.
At least 22 people were injured and six were missing.
The storm, which had been downgraded from typhoon status, had sustained winds of up to 67 miles per hour as it swirled over the southern main island of Shikoku, the Meteorological Agency said.
It was slowly heading northeast toward the main island of Honshu.
As much as 12 inches of rain is expected in southern Japan early tomorrow, said the agency, which also warned of high tides, strong winds, flooding and landslides.
Public broadcaster NHK said 22 people had been injured.
They included a 46-year-old man whose finger was sliced off when it was caught in a warehouse door slammed shut by a gust in Kawanabe, a town located about 620 miles southwest of Tokyo, Kagoshima police spokesman Kenji Iwashige said.
Authorities confirmed eight other injuries in Kagoshima, Miyazaki, Nagasaki, Kumamoto and Saga – including a man and woman in their 70s who were blown to the ground by strong winds – but had no details on the other 13 reported by NHK.
In western Mie, six people were missing after mud and rock loosened by rain buried several homes, the public broadcaster said. A fisherman was missing off the coast of western Yamaguchi, media reports said.
Rain and high tides flooded dozens of homes in southern Japan and troops were dispatched to help with repairs and rescue efforts, officials said.
Hundreds of flights were cancelled and bullet train and local train and ferry services around the southern islands were suspended, stranding thousands of travellers, media reported.
Roughly 79,300 homes across Kyushu were without power, Kyushu Electric Power Co. spokesman Yoshihiko Imaizumi said. Blackouts in 7,400 homes were reported in Mie, Chubu Electric Power Co. spokesman Hiroko Mizutani said.
Nearly 2,300 people across Kyushu fled their homes for public shelters and authorities in Mie ordered about 18,000 households to evacuate, officials said. Public schools across a wide area of southern Japan were closed.
Japan has been buffeted by a record seven typhoons this year, exceeding the past record of six in 1990.
Earlier this month, Typhoon Songda killed at least 32 people and injured more than 900 as it travelled along Japan’s western coast.
