Japan Hit By Strongest Storm of 25 Years
At least nine dead after powerful typhoon prompts flooding and chaos, leaving thousands stranded
Apowerful typhoon slammed into western Japan yesterday , inundating the region’s main international airport, blowing a tanker into a bridge, disrupting land and air travel and leaving thousands stranded. Local media reported that nine people died and more than 100 others were injured when Typhoon
Jebi caused violent winds in the west of the country.
The storm is the strongest to hit the country in 25 years. According to public broadcaster
NHK, the casualties included a 71-year-old man who was killed in western Shiga prefecture after being trapped under a warehouse that collapsed in strong wind.
NHK said 164 people had suffered mostly minor injuries. Several people were injured at Kyoto station when part of a glass ceiling collapsed, according to Police. A number of vehicles were blown on to their sides on a motorway, while a truck narrowly escaped being swept off a bridge connecting the island of Shikoku and the main Japanese island of Honshu. Television networks showed dramatic footage of a 2591-tonne tanker that collided with the side of a bridge linking the mainland with Kansai International airport, which stands on an artificial island in Osaka Bay.
The tanker and bridge were damaged but the ship’s crew were unhurt. The airport’s runway and the basement floor of a terminal building were flooded, according to local authorities.
The damage to the bridge left the airport cut off from the mainland and stranded around 3000 people there, an official said.
TV stations also showed footage of a 100m (328 ft) tall ferris wheel in Osaka spinning furiously in the strong wind despite being switched off.
Evacuation advisories were issued for 1.19 million people, along with a stronger but non-mandatory evacuation order for a further 16,000 people, as the wind and rain began to intensify on Tuesday. The meteorological agency said in a televised warning that the system could trigger violent winds, landslides and flooding in southern and south-western parts of the archipelago, as well as high tides, lightning and tornadoes.
The Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, urged residents to “evacuate early” and cancelled a planned trip to Kyushu in Japan’s south-west so he could oversee the government’s response.