1 dead as tropical storm hits Japan, causes landslides

TOKYO — Tropical Depression Talas unleashed fierce rainfall Saturday in parts of Japan, setting off landslides, halting trains and killing a man after he crashed his car into a pond.

Police said the man who drove into a pond in central Japan’s Shizuoka prefecture was rushed to a hospital but died.

In another part of Shizuoka, rescue efforts were underway after a road collapsed from the heavy rainfall, police said. Japanese media reports said one man managed to crawl out of a truck that got stuck but another man was missing.

Separately, three people were injured in a mudslide in Shizuoka, according to a prefectural police spokesperson.

Rivers swelled in Shizuoka’s Hamamatsu city, where video shared on social media showed cars wading through watery streets.

News footage showed an underground walkway at a train station flooded with muddy water. Because trains stopped temporarily, about 1,000 people were stranded at an arena in Shizuoka where a concert was held Friday night.

The storm is the latest to batter Japan after typhoons have caused several deaths and damage in recent weeks.