Typhoon Shanshan makes landfall in Japan, killing 3 and snarling air traffic
TOKYO听–听At least three people were killed in southwestern聽Japan on Thursday聽补蝉听Typhoon Shanshan made landfall in Kagoshima prefecture,聽bringing heavy rain and very strong winds as well as snarling air traffic and knocking聽out power聽to over聽a quarter million households.
Major automakers including Toyota聽7203.T聽and Nissan聽7201.T聽suspended operations in some or all of their domestic factories due to the storm.
The typhoon, with gusts of up to聽55 meters per second (198聽km per hour/123聽mph), made landfall near Satsumasendai city located in the country’s southwestern island of Kyushu on Thursday morning, the weather agency said.
Authorities warned the storm could be one of the strongest ever to hit the region, and local governments have issued evacuation orders for millions of residents in several prefectures.
Three people were dead, one was missing, two were severely injured, and five suffered minor injuries because of the typhoon, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said.
“As this typhoon is moving slowly, total amount of rain could be rather big,” Hayashi told a regular news conference.
Footage from public broadcaster NHK showed walls torn and window glass of buildings broken in Miyazaki city in southern Kyushu, with objects scattered on the street or hanging from utility poles.
More than 250,000 households in seven prefectures are experiencing power outage as of 9:00 a.m. on Thursday (0000 GMT), according to Kyushu Electric Power Co.
础蹿迟别谤听hovering over聽碍测耻蝉丑耻听蹿辞谤听the next few days, the storm is expected to approach the central and eastern regions, including the capital Tokyo, around the weekend, the weather agency said.
Airlines, including ANA Holdings聽9202.T聽and Japan Airlines聽9201.T, have already announced cancellations of more than 600 domestic flights. Train services have been suspended in many areas of Kyushu.
Typhoon Shanshan is the latest harsh weather system to hit Japan, following Typhoon Ampil, which also led to blackouts and evacuations, earlier this month. – Reuters
