Tokyo: Typhoon Shanshan, which made landfall in Japan's Kagoshima Prefecture, pounded the country with torrential rain on Friday, prompting warnings for floods and landslides, halting train and aerial services and shutting down production at major factories. At least six people have been killed and 110 others have been injured in storm-related incidents in recent days, according to Japan's disaster management agency.
According to the Japan Times, the typhoon slowly moved towards Shikoku on Friday, causing widespread rain across the nation. Shanshan made landfall on Thursday as a powerful typhoon, but later weakened into a tropical storm. It was moving with maximum wind speeds of 65 kmph and gusts reaching upto 90 kmph.
Additionally, a Level 5 emergency warning — which urges residents to take immediate life-saving action — has been issued in parts of Oita Prefecture in the Kyushu region since Thursday due to threats posed by flooding and landslides. Millions of people have been evacuated from the Kagoshima Prefecture and orders have been issued in multiple cities in western Tokyo.
Power cut off, services hit by typoon
Around 250,000 households in seven prefectures were without power in Kyushu on Thursday, according to Kyushu Electric Power Co., but many had seen services restored on Friday. The warm and moist air flowing around the typhoon brought record-breaking levels of rain in some areas far from the main storm, which authorities say is concerning given its slower-than-expected movement across the country.
Visuals showed several streets inundated, as railway operators halted services for the Kyushu network and the Tokaido Shinkansen that runs between Tokyo Station and Shin-Osaka Station. The storm has paralysed traffic, delivery services and businesses across southwestern Japan. As a result of the powerful typhoon, passengers on the Tokyo-Hiroshima rail line were left stranded in train for nearly 13 hours.
Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways, two of the country's largest carriers, have cancelled 1,127 domestic flights scheduled for Thursday and Friday. Nearly all major supermarkets and shops in Kyushu have closed their doors. In the prefectures of Kagoshima and Miyazaki alone, about 2,400 outlets of Japan's top three convenience store chains have been forced to suspend businesses.
Millions ordered to evacuate
Amid the panic-stricken scenario, authorities have issued notices to over 3.3 million people across Japan, mostly in the hard-hit Kyushu area and central and eastern regions including the capital Tokyo and nearby Yokohama. Authorities there warned of possible landslides and rivers bursting their banks due to the heavy rain. However, only some 30,000 had been evacuated by Thursday, mainly in Kyushu, disaster management minister Yoshifumi Matsumura said.
There was also a landslide that impacted vehicles on a road in the city of Isehara, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Friday morning, causing a blockage that is expected to take some time to clear, but there were no injuries. The heavy rainfall is expected to continue across a wide area of Japan, along with strong gusts of wind. Typhoon Shanshan is the latest harsh weather system to hit Japan, following Typhoon Ampil, which also led to blackouts and evacuations, earlier this month.
(with inputs from agencies)
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