Typhoon Shanshan pounds Japan with torrential rains, severe wind

FUKUOKA, Japan — Typhoon Shanshan brought torrential rain across large parts of Japan on Friday, with warnings for flooding and landslides hundreds of miles from the storm’s centre, as many transport services ground to a halt and factories closed.

In the southwestern region of Kyushu, where what authorities say could be one of the strongest storms ever to hit the region made landfall on Thursday, residents in Fukuoka city were hunkering down, with streets quiet and shops shuttered.

At the main rail station, Motoki Tanimura, a 39-year-old employee at a manufacturing company, arrived in the city late on Thursday evening for a work trip but feared she would not be able to get back home to Osaka.

“This typhoon’s path keeps changing, making it unpredictable, so it’s hard to get updates on the transportation situation. I’m planning to return on Saturday, but I’m not sure if I can make it,” she said.

At least three people have been killed so far and 78 injured, according to the disaster management agency.

Bringing gusts of up to 50 metres per second (180 km per hour/112 mph), strong enough to blow over moving trucks, the typhoon was near the coastal city of Kunisaki in Oita Prefecture at 8:45 a.m. (2345 GMT) and moving northeast, according to authorities.

Around 125,000 households in seven prefectures were without power in Kyushu, according to Kyushu Electric Power Co.

But the warm and moist air flowing around the typhoon have also brought heavy rains in areas far from the main body, which authorities say is concerning given its slower than expected movement across the country.

Notices advising residents to be ready to evacuate have been issued to millions across the country, mainly in the hard-hit Kyushu area but also as far away as Yokohama, Japan’s second-largest city adjacent to the capital Tokyo. Authorities there said there were risks of landslides due to heavy rain.

After hovering over Kyushu on Friday, the storm was expected to approach the central and eastern regions, which includes Tokyo, around the weekend, the weather agency said.

Toyota suspended operations in all of its domestic plants due to the storm, while other automakers Nissan and Honda, and semiconductor firms Renesas, Tokyo Electron and Rohm, also temporarily halted production at some factories.

Airlines, including ANA Holdings and Japan Airlines, have already announced cancellations of hundreds of flights while many train, bus and ferry services in Kyushu have also been halted, according to the transport ministry.

Typhoon Shanshan is the latest harsh weather system to hit Japan, following Typhoon Ampil, which also led to blackouts and evacuations, earlier this month.