A tropical storm was moving out into the Sea of Japan yesterday after lashing Japan with rain and winds, leaving one person dead and more than 50 injured, as well as 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.
The storm-hit nation was also shaken yesterday afternoon by a magnitude 6.1 earthquake that struck off the northeastern coast near Aomori. There was no danger of a tsunami and no damage or injuries have been reported. Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority said nuclear facilities in the area remained intact.
Originally a typhoon, Halong was downgraded to a tropical storm as it approached southwest coast and made two landfalls — over Shikoku Island and Hyogo Prefecture in western Japan.
It exited over the Sea of Japan from the northern coast near Kyoto yesterday and was expected to lose further 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, in northern Japan, a 78-year-old man was found dead late on Saturday after plunging into a swollen irrigation canal at his farm.
In Miyazaki, in the south, a woman in her 70s broke her ankle when a portable toilet booth fell on her as she was walking by.
Japan’s public television service NHK said 52 people were injured.
More than 200 flights were canceled, stranding thousands of travelers at airports around the country.
The storm also flooded about 330 homes and damaged 70 others in western Japan.
The storm, packing winds of up to 100kph, was expected to dump 30cm of rain in central Japan by this morning.
The meteorological agency warned of landslides and floods and predicted heavy rain and strong wind in Tokyo and northern Japan through today.
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