A powerful tropical storm soaked Japan's southern main islands of Kyushu and Shikoku yesterday, disrupting transportation and whipping up waves and winds that damaged homes, downed electricity lines and forced thousands to evacuate to shelters. At least one person was killed, 22 people were injured and six were missing.
The storm, which had been downgraded from typhoon status, had sustained winds of up to 108kph as it swirled over the southern main island of Shikoku yesterday afternoon, the Meteorological Agency said.
It was slowly headed northeast toward the main island of Honshu.
As much as 300mm of rain was expected in southern Japan through early today, said the agency, which also warned of high tides, strong winds, flooding and landslides.
Public broadcaster NHK said 22 people had been injured, including a 46-year-old man whose finger was sliced off when it was caught in a warehouse door slammed shut by a gust in Kawanabe, a town about 990km southwest of Tokyo, Kagoshima prefectural police spokesman Kenji Iwashige said.
Authorities confirmed eight other injuries in Kagoshima, Miyazaki, Nagasaki, Kumamoto and Saga prefectures -- including a man and woman in their 70s who were blown to the ground by strong winds -- but had no details on the other 13 reported by NHK.
In western Mie prefecture, six people were missing after mud and rock loosened by rain buried several homes, the public broadcaster said. The body of an unidentified man was recovered from a river in Mie, police said.
Rain and high tides flooded dozens of homes in southern Japan and troops were dispatched to help with repairs and rescue efforts, officials said.
Hundreds of flights were canceled and bullet train and local train and ferry services around the southern islands were suspended, stranding thousands of travelers, media reported.
Roughly 79,300 homes across Kyushu were without power, Kyushu Electric Power Co spokesman Yoshihiko Imaizumi said. Blackouts in 7,400 homes were reported in Mie prefecture, Chubu Electric Power Co spokesman Hiroko Mizutani said.
Nearly 2,300 people across Kyushu fled their homes for public shelters and authorities in Mie ordered about 18,000 households to evacuate, officials said. Public schools across a wide swathe of southern Japan were closed.
At least 45 people have been killed by seven typhoons -- a record number -- that have hit Japan this year.
END OF AN ERA: The vote brings the curtain down on 20 years of socialist rule, which began in 2005 when Evo Morales, an indigenous coca farmer, was elected president A center-right senator and a right-wing former president are to advance to a run-off for Bolivia’s presidency after the first round of elections on Sunday, marking the end of two decades of leftist rule, preliminary official results showed. Bolivian Senator Rodrigo Paz was the surprise front-runner, with 32.15 percent of the vote cast in an election dominated by a deep economic crisis, results published by the electoral commission showed. He was followed by former Bolivian president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga in second with 26.87 percent, according to results based on 92 percent of votes cast. Millionaire businessman Samuel Doria Medina, who had been tipped
ELECTION DISTRACTION? When attention shifted away from the fight against the militants to politics, losses and setbacks in the battlefield increased, an analyst said Recent clashes in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Jubaland region are alarming experts, exposing cracks in the country’s federal system and creating an opening for militant group al-Shabaab to gain ground. Following years of conflict, Somalia is a loose federation of five semi-autonomous member states — Puntland, Jubaland, Galmudug, Hirshabelle and South West — that maintain often fractious relations with the central government in the capital, Mogadishu. However, ahead of elections next year, Somalia has sought to assert control over its member states, which security analysts said has created gaps for al-Shabaab infiltration. Last week, two Somalian soldiers were killed in clashes between pro-government forces and
Ten cheetah cubs held in captivity since birth and destined for international wildlife trade markets have been rescued in Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia. They were all in stable condition despite all of them having been undernourished and limping due to being tied in captivity for months, said Laurie Marker, founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, which is caring for the cubs. One eight-month-old cub was unable to walk after been tied up for six months, while a five-month-old was “very malnourished [a bag of bones], with sores all over her body and full of botfly maggots which are under the
BRUSHED OFF: An ambassador to Australia previously said that Beijing does not see a reason to apologize for its naval exercises and military maneuvers in international areas China set off alarm bells in New Zealand when it dispatched powerful warships on unprecedented missions in the South Pacific without explanation, military documents showed. Beijing has spent years expanding its reach in the southern Pacific Ocean, courting island nations with new hospitals, freshly paved roads and generous offers of climate aid. However, these diplomatic efforts have increasingly been accompanied by more overt displays of military power. Three Chinese warships sailed the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand in February, the first time such a task group had been sighted in those waters. “We have never seen vessels with this capability