TOKYO – A severe storm battered southern Japan with torrential rain and fierce winds on Thursday, killing at the very least three people because it moved slowly across the archipelago and raising fears that it could cause flooding, landslides and extensive damage.
Tropical Storm Shanshan made landfall on the southern island of Kyushu on Thursday morning as a robust typhoon and regularly weakened afterward. However, it remains to be forecast to bring strong winds, high waves and significant rainfall to most parts of the country, especially Kyushu.
In parts of Miyazaki Prefecture on Kyushu, about 60 centimeters of rain fell, the rivers swelled and there was a threat of flooding. Japan Meteorological Agency This 24-hour total is higher than the typical rainfall for the entire of August, it said.
By late Thursday afternoon, the storm was moving north at 15 km/h and its wind speed had weakened to 108 km/h. It was “no longer a strong typhoon,” the agency said.
As the disaster threat within the Kyushu region subsided later Thursday, Shanshan began to dump heavy rains on the neighboring island of Shikoku.
The storm swept through downtown Miyazaki on Kyushu, flattening trees, overturning cars in parking lots and smashing the windows of some buildings. The prefectural disaster response group said about 50 buildings were damaged.
Public broadcaster NHK showed a swollen river in the favored hot spring town of Yufu in Oita Prefecture, north of Miyazaki, and muddy water splashing against a bridge.
More than 70 people were injured in Kyushu, most of them in Miyazaki and Kagoshima. Some were injured because they were thrown to the bottom by the storm as they made their strategy to emergency shelters, the hearth and disaster management agency said.
According to Kyushu Electric Power Co., about 168,000 households across Kyushu were without power, most of them in Kagoshima Prefecture.
According to prefectural reports, around 20,000 people sought shelter in urban community centers, school gymnasiums and other facilities across Kyushu.
Before the storm's arrival, heavy rains triggered a landslide that buried a house within the central city of Gamagori, killing three residents and injuring two others, the town's disaster management agency said. On the southern island of Amami, which Shanshan passes by, one person was injured when a gust of wind knocked him over while riding a motorbike, the hearth department said.
Weather and government officials fear major damage because the storm slowly moves northeast across the Japanese archipelago over the following few days, threatening further flooding and landslides.
Disaster mitigation minister Yoshifumi Matsumura said Shanshan could cause “unprecedented” winds, high waves, storm surges and heavy rains. At a task force meeting on Wednesday, he urged people, especially the elderly, to not hesitate and seek shelter if there are safety concerns.
Hundreds of domestic flights between cities and islands within the southwest were canceled on Thursday, and high-speed trains and a few local trains were suspended. As the storm moved northeast, similar measures were taken in parts of the predominant island of Honshu, where heavy rain was falling. In the Kyushu region, postal and delivery services were suspended, and supermarkets and other shops are to shut.
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