Typhoon Mindulle unleashed heavy rains on Tokyo, bringing the risk of floods and landslides as the storm made landfall near the Japanese capital shortly after noon yesterday.
The typhoon’s center was about 74km south of Tokyo as of 1pm and heading north, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
With maximum sustained winds of 126kph and a maximum wind gust speed of 180kph, Mindulle is the equivalent of a category 1 hurricane, the weakest on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale.
Photo: EPA
The weather agency issued heavy rain and flood warnings for all 23 wards of central Tokyo, while the Japanese Prime Minister’s Office warned of possible landslides and damage from strong waves.
A total of 250mm of rain was predicted in the Tokyo region for the 24 hours to noon, the agency said, and it issued tornado warnings for Tokyo and surrounding areas.
Nine rivers were at a dangerous risk of flooding, national broadcaster NHK said.
Japan Airlines Co canceled 148 domestic flights, affecting about 28,000 passengers, while ANA Holdings Inc scrapped 112 flights, affecting about 26,500 passengers, according to statements from the airlines.
Tokyo Electric Power Co said about 66,000 homes were without power as of 2:25pm, mostly in Chiba Prefecture, where the typhoon made landfall.
Trains were also affected, with East Japan Railway Co canceling dozens of trains and Odakyu Electric Railway Co halting routes between Tokyo and popular tourist destination Hakone. The Yamagata bullet train line was partially halted for the rest of the day.
A passenger train in rural western Tokyo carrying six passengers was derailed due to a landslide, Jiji News reported. No injuries were reported.
Mindulle is the ninth typhoon of the season. Two other storms are hovering around the Japanese archipelago, with the 10th, Lionrock, tracking toward Okinawa, and the 11th having weakened to an extratropical cyclone after passing over the northern island of Hokkaido on Sunday night.
AFGHAN CHILD: A court battle is ongoing over if the toddler can stay with Joshua Mast and his wife, who wanted ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ for her Major Joshua Mast, a US Marine whose adoption of an Afghan war orphan has spurred a years-long legal battle, is to remain on active duty after a three-member panel of Marines on Tuesday found that while he acted in a way unbecoming of an officer to bring home the baby girl, it did not warrant his separation from the military. Lawyers for the Marine Corps argued that Mast abused his position, disregarded orders of his superiors, mishandled classified information and improperly used a government computer in his fight over the child who was found orphaned on the battlefield in rural Afghanistan
EYEING THE US ELECTION: Analysts say that Pyongyang would likely leverage its enlarged nuclear arsenal for concessions after a new US administration is inaugurated North Korean leader Kim Jong-un warned again that he could use nuclear weapons in potential conflicts with South Korea and the US, as he accused them of provoking North Korea and raising animosities on the Korean Peninsula, state media reported yesterday. Kim has issued threats to use nuclear weapons pre-emptively numerous times, but his latest warning came as experts said that North Korea could ramp up hostilities ahead of next month’s US presidential election. In a Monday speech at a university named after him, the Kim Jong-un National Defense University, he said that North Korea “will without hesitation use all its attack
US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is in “excellent health” and fit for the presidency, according to a medical report published by the White House on Saturday as she challenged her rival, former US president Donald Trump, to publish his own health records. “Vice President Harris remains in excellent health,” her physician Joshua Simmons said in the report, adding that she “possesses the physical and mental resiliency required to successfully execute the duties of the presidency.” Speaking to reporters ahead of a trip to North Carolina, Harris called Trump’s unwillingness to publish his records “a further example
RUSSIAN INPUT: Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov called Washington’s actions in Asia ‘destructive,’ accusing it of being the reason for the ‘militarization’ of Japan The US is concerned about China’s “increasingly dangerous and unlawful” activities in the disputed South China Sea, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told ASEAN leaders yesterday during an annual summit, and pledged that Washington would continue to uphold freedom of navigation in the region. The 10-member ASEAN meeting with Blinken followed a series of confrontations at sea between China and ASEAN members Philippines and Vietnam. “We are very concerned about China’s increasingly dangerous and unlawful activities in the South China Sea which have injured people, harm vessels from ASEAN nations and contradict commitments to peaceful resolutions of disputes,” said Blinken, who
RSS