Japan, typhoon in the east: 13 dead and over 50 missing

TOKYO – At least 13 people lost their lives and more than 50 are missing due to the passage of typhoon Wipha on the east coast of Japan. The typhoon, the 26th of the season and the most powerful of the last ten years, hit this morning also on Tokyo and the great Kanto plain with heavy rains and strong winds.

The victims, almost all buried by landslides, are all on the island of Izu Oshima, a tourist destination 120 kilometers south of Tokyo, where rainfall reached a record high of 122.5 millimeters per hour. The images broadcast on NHK public television showed a catastrophic scenario. Dozens of houses have been destroyed. “We have no idea what the extent of the damage may be,” said Hinani Uematsu, one of the local administration officials.

About thirty high-speed trains have been canceled or suspended as a precaution on the Tohoku, Yamagata, Joetsu, Nagano and Tokaido Shinkansen lines. The budget for airlines is heavier: Japan Airlines and ANA had to cancel a combined total of around 400 flights.

In Tokyo and the surrounding area the passage of the typhoon paralyzed public transport during the morning rush hour and dozens of schools remained closed as a precaution.

Wipha, whose winds have reached 180 kilometers per hour, should be reclassified as an extratropical cyclone in the afternoon, shortly after the passage on the disastrous Fukushima nuclear power plant, in view of the definitive swerve towards the waters of the Pacific Ocean where, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency, will discharge the remaining force.

16 October 2013