Landslides, floods kill 66 as typhoon lashes Japan
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 waves which lashed the coast.
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 said after being rescued in Hyogo in western Japan.
Tokage, which means lizard in Japanese, moved into the Pacific early yesterday and was downgraded to a tropical depression. It was a record 10th typhoon to hit Japan this year.
According to news reports, at least 66 were killed and 22 were missing. 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, were rescued from their ship, the 2,556-tonne Kaio Maru, which ran aground in Toyama, 255km west of Tokyo. Sixteen of them 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 in western Japan.
A wave measuring 17.79 meters - as tall as a six-storey building - pounded the city’s shoreline on Wednesday afternoon just before waves hit residential homes, according to reports.
“The waves just came up and crashed down on us,” one woman said.
Rescuers in the western prefecture of Okayama dug through the rubble of seven homes devastated in a landslide, searching for survivors. Most of the areas hit by landslides were rural, and in many cases the houses were clustered 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.
“The main reason why the typhoon caused such huge damage is that its size was big, with a radius of over 500km. That means the typhoon affected almost all of Japan for a long time with rain and winds,” another official said.
“Such a huge typhoon is very rare,” he added.
Thirty-seven people, most of them elderly tourists, spent the night huddled together on top of a bus after being stranded by floods.
They were rescued by helicopter and dinghy early yesterday. One elderly woman collapsed into her rescuer’s arms.
“The wind was very strong, it was raining very hard, it was cold. We all held onto each other’s shoulders to stay together,” one man on the bus said. “We were very scared.”
The storm sideswiped Tokyo, buffeting the city with strong winds and rain, before heading out to sea and being downgraded to a tropical depression.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda promised government help for affected areas.
“I would like to express my heartfelt condolences ... We will take all possible measures,” he said.
The government later decided to send officials to affected areas today to survey the damage.
Storms and floods have killed more than 100 people in Japan this year and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.
The previous typhoon, Ma-on, pummelled Tokyo and killed six people across the country earlier this month.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
