Japan's deadliest storm in more than a decade unleashed flash floods that washed away entire hillsides, killing 66 people and leaving at least 22 people missing before it veered east into the Pacific Ocean yesterday.
Many people died in landslides set off by the heavy rains from Typhoon Tokage that pounded much of Japan on Wednesday. Others died in flooding or were swept away by massive waves which lashed the coast.
PHOTO: AP
Others who were saved from flooding by rescue workers in helicopters and rubber rafts were left shaken by the experience.
"I thought I wouldn't make it. I should have evacuated earlier," a woman told public broadcaster NHK after being rescued in Hyogo prefecture in western Japan.
Tokage, which means lizard in Japanese, moved out into the Pacific early yesterday and was downgraded to a tropical depression soon after. It was a record 10th typhoon to hit Japan this year.
Kyodo news agency said at least 66 were killed and 22 were missing due to the typhoon, while the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said 59 were killed and 22 missing.
According to the Meteorological Agency, the number of people killed or unaccounted for was the highest for a single typhoon since 95 died or went missing from a 1982 storm.
A total of 167 people, including 102 trainees aged around 20, were rescued from the 2,556-tonne Kaio Maru, which ran aground in Toyama. Sixteen suffered injuries such as broken wrists.
Among the dead were three people killed when high waves battered through a concrete breakwater and smashed into their home in Kochi, on Shikoku island.
NHK said a wave measuring 17.79m -- as tall as a six-story building -- pounded Kochi's shoreline on Wednesday afternoon just before waves hit homes.
Most of the areas hit by land-slides were rural, and in many cases the houses were clustered just under steep slopes, a typical situation in mountainous Japan.
"There had already been a lot of rain from a previous typhoon [this month] ... The latest typhoon brought more rain, which was a cause of landslides," a Meteorological Agency official said.
Thirty-seven people, most of them in their 60s and 70s, were forced to spend the night lashed together on top of a bus after being stranded by floodwaters.
The passengers, waited for nine hours -- singing songs and trying to cheery each other up -- before a helicopter and rafts plucked them to safety in Maizuru, 400km west of Tokyo.
"It was so scary but we held on together, cheering ourselves up," said Tsutomu Nishimura, 62
The government announced it would send officials to affected areas today to survey damage.
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