The Sendai River swollen due to heavy rains is pictured in the city of Tottori, Tottori prefecture on 15 August 2023, as Tropical Storm Lan hit the main island of Honshu overnight bringing much of the central part of the country to a standstill.
- More than 180 000 residents in a western Japanese city urged
to seek shelter due to the risk of flooding. - A tropical storm caused heavy rain and strong winds, leading
to power outages. - The weather system is expected to continue moving towards
the Sea of Japan and the Russian Far East.
More
than 180 000 residents in a western Japanese city were urged to seek shelter on
Tuesday as a tropical storm hit, swelling rivers and triggering landslide
warnings.
Downgraded
from a typhoon, Lan roared in from the Pacific at around 05:00 (20:00 GMT
Monday), soaking and buffeting the commercial hubs of Osaka and Kobe with
strong winds as it rumbled northwards.
Tottori
city, which faces the Sea of Japan, issued its top-level evacuation warning to
around 182 000 residents late in the afternoon, as the weather agency warned of
“unprecedented” heavy rain in the region.
“Lives
are in danger. The residents are in a situation where immediate personal
security needs to be ensured,” Satoshi Sugimoto from the Japan
Meteorological Agency told reporters.
READ | Tropical storm Lan soaks Japan’s main island
Sugimoto
urged people in the region to seek shelter on higher ground due to the risk of
flooding.
Electricity
was mostly restored but 9 200 households were still without power by Tuesday
evening, according to a local utility.
Part
of a pedestrian bridge was swept away in Kyoto and flying debris stopped local
commuter trains.
READ | ‘Heaviest rain ever’: One dead, 2 million asked to evacuate in Japan
Express
bullet trains were suspended as planned along with hundreds of flights,
including 240 Japan Airline services and 313 of rival ANA, particularly those
serving Osaka.
Around
650 people were forced to stay overnight at Kansai airport, located on an
artificial island in Osaka Bay, after rail and road access was cut off by the
storm, Kyodo News reported.
The
weather system was forecast to spend all of Tuesday sweeping over the region,
before moving out to the Sea of Japan and up the coast past Vladivostok and the
Russian Far East.
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