A tropical storm was moving out into the Sea of Japan on Sunday night
after lashing the country with rain and wind, leaving one person dead,
more than 50 injured and prompting evacuation alerts for about 1.2
million residents near swollen rivers.
Tropical Storm Halong disrupted land and air traffic as Japan began its annual “Obon” Buddhist holiday week.
Originally a typhoon, Halong was downgraded to a tropical storm as it
approached the southwest coast and made two landfalls - over Shikoku
and Hyogo Prefecture in western Japan. It was on track to exit into the
Sea of Japan from the northern coast near Kyoto late Sunday, and further
lose strength in the next 12 hours.
Japan’s Meteorological Agency issued the highest alert for heavy rain
in Mie Prefecture in central Japan, prompting two towns to order about
570,000 residents to move away from swollen rivers. Another 600,000
people were advised to evacuate across the country. Some of the
evacuation advisories in western Japan were later lifted as the storm
moved farther north.
In Iwate Prefecture in northern Japan, a 78-year-old man was found
dead late Saturday after plunging into a swollen irrigation canal at his
farm.
Japan’s public television NHK said 52 people were injured in the storm.
More than 200 flights were canceled, stranding thousands of
holidaymakers at airports around the country. The rainstorm also flooded
about 330 homes and damaged 70 others in western Japan.
The storm, packing winds of up to 100 kilometers per hour, was
expected to dump 30 centimeters of rain in central Japan by Monday
morning. The meteorological agency warned of landslides and floods, and
predicted heavy rain and strong wind in Tokyo and northern Japan through
Monday.
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