Six injured, 500 flights cancelled as Typhoon Halong lashes southern Japan
With winds of up to 180 km/h, government warns storm may pose threat to life and could inflict massive damage
PUBLISHED : Saturday, 09 August, 2014, 6:54pm
UPDATED : Saturday, 09 August, 2014, 9:54pm
Agence France-Presse in Tokyo
A flight information board displays cancelled flights due to Typhoon Halong at Tokyo's Haneda airport on Saturday. Photo: AFP
Six people were injured as as Typhoon Halong lashed southwest Japan today, prompting authorities to order the evacuation of half a million people near swollen rivers.
The highest typhoon warning was hoisted earlier this afternoon. The warning means that the storm poses a threat to life and could inflict massive damage, the meteorological agency said.
Strong winds left six people injured, one seriously, in Miyazaki prefecture in southern Japan.
A landslide is caused by Typhoon Halong in Kochi prefecture, in Japan's south on Friday. Photo: AFP
Airlines, including Japan’s two major carriers Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways, cancelled about 500 flights on Saturday, affecting more than 20,000 passengers. It would have been the start of the summer ”Obon” Buddhist holidays, one of the year’s busiest travel periods in Japan.
As of Saturday evening, the airlines had also cancelled more than 50 flights scheduled for Sunday.
A big sea wave hit against a concrete wall to a road in Kushimoto, as a typhoon lashed Japan's southwest. Photo: AP
Japan’s Meteorological Agency issued a special warning for heavy rain in Mie prefecture in central Japan, prompting two towns to order about 500,000 residents to evacuate due to a fear of flooding from swollen rivers. The agency said heavy rain in the area would continue overnight.
The alert was issued for Mie prefecture, some 300 kilometres west of Tokyo, as the outer bands of the storm were already lashing the region and other areas of southwestern Japan, the agency said.
“Please remain on the alert against a rise of rivers, floods as well as damage from landslides in Mie prefecture,” the agency said on its website.
Satoshi Ebihara, the Japanese weather agency’s chief forecaster, also told a televised news conference that the levels of torrential rain monitored in Mie were already “unprecedented”.
Vehicles drive down a flooded road in the city of Tsu, Mie prefecture. A special warning was in place over Mie, prompting two towns to order about 500,000 residents to evacuate. Photo: AFP
“We are in an abnormal situation where serious danger is imminent,” Ebihara said.
“Please follow evacuation advisories from your local communities without any delay,” he added. “Please do your best to protect your lives.”
Yokkaichi and Suzuka, in northern Mie, issued evacuation instructions - stricter than advisories but still not compulsory - to some 512,000 residents in total, city officials and local media said.
“We are strongly urging our residents to evacuate, while we are hurriedly setting up temporary shelters across the city,” a Yokkaichi official said.
Typhoon Halong, packing winds of up to 180 km/h, could make landfall in southwest Japan late Saturday or early Sunday, according to the agency.
Travellers crowd the check-in area at Tokyo's Haneda Airport departure lounge as flights are delayed or cancelled due to Typhoon Halong. Photo: AFP
Television footage showed high waves triggered by the typhoon splashing over breakwaters and muddy torrents roaring down a swollen river.
Storms and torrential rain earlier this week have left one dead and seven injured, public broadcaster NHK said.
At least 473 flights were cancelled due to the typhoon, which came as Japan had just begun its annual “Obon” summer holiday, NHK said.
Most ferry and train services on the southwest island of Shikoku were cancelled, while highways were closed at several points.
Over the next 24 hours, the storm was expected to dump 70cm of rain on Shikoku, which had already been lashed by downpours from another typhoon last weekend, the national weather agency said.
The agency also warned of major landslides and floods in other areas of southwestern Japan, while local authorities in Tokushima in Shikoku issued an evacuation advisory to some 44,100 residents, officials said.
A satellite image from August 8 shows Typhoon Halong churning towards the southwest of Japan. Photo: AFP
The typhoon, which was about 120 kilometres off Shikoku’s southern tip at 1pm Hong Kong time, was moving northeast at 15 km/h, the agency said.
Halong comes a month after Typhoon Neoguri killed several people and left a trail of destruction in southern Japan.
Last weekend, a man drowned in a raging river while more than half a million people were advised to evacuate as heavy rain from Typhoon Nakri lashed the country.
