Heavy rains and strong winds lashed Tokyo yesterday as a powerful typhoon killed one person, injured more than 40 and cut off land and sea transportation before heading north and weakening to a tropical storm.
At least three people were missing.
Authorities suspended some train services in Tokyo and warned of possible landslides and flooding in the capital and other nearby areas, advising hundreds of people to evacuate. By mid-day yesterday, transportation was mostly restored in the metropolitan area.
The tropical storm, originally called Typhoon Fitow, made landfall late on Thursday night in Kanagawa prefecture just southwest of Tokyo, before heading north and losing power. As of yesterday afternoon it was about 300km northeast of Tokyo, with winds of 108kph, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
The storm dumped heavy rain on parts of Japan's main island of Honshu since Wednesday -- up to 600mm in some areas.
A 76-year-old man was killed by a falling tree on Thursday in Karuizawa, a resort town in central Japan, the National Police Agency said in a statement.
A 52-year-old man went missing in Kanagawa, just outside Tokyo, after leaving home to check a nearby river, the police said. Two construction workers were also missing in a mudslide in central Fukui prefecture. Local police said they were investigating whether the incident was related to the storm.
Police said at least 41 people have been injured, eight of them seriously.
In downtown Tokyo, more than 1,200 people near the dangerously swollen Tama River were ordered to evacuate early yesterday. Firefighters also rescued homeless people camping out along another river in downtown Tokyo that was near flood stage.
Some 57,000 homes were without power in Tokyo and nine surrounding prefectures. Authorities issued evacuation advisories to 950 homes in south-central Shizuoka and two other prefectures, public broadcaster NHK said.
Nearly 60 houses have been flooded in central Japan, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said, and hundreds of public schools were closed yesterday.
Fitow also grounded more than 200 domestic flights linking the capital and regional cities, affecting over 41,000 people, according to the Kyodo news agency. Airlines canceled more flights early yesterday, including several international flights.
Last month, Typhoon Usagi injured more than 16 people in southwestern Japan.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS