2 dead, over 150 injured as powerful typhoon wreaks havoc in Japan
TOKYO. KAZINFORM - A powerful typhoon swept through Japan's largest main island Sunday through early Monday, leaving at least two people dead and over 150 others injured, while widely disrupting morning-hour commuter traffic in Tokyo, Kyodo reports.
Typhoon Trami passed over northeastern Japan to reach the Pacific on Monday morning after making landfall in western Japan the previous night. It rapidly traversed eastern and northern parts of Honshu, severely affecting the Tokyo metropolitan area, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
The typhoon, the season's 24th, forced public transportation operators to shut down their services early Sunday in central, eastern and western Japan. The resumption of services in the capital was delayed Monday morning for safety checks and falling trees.
A 50-year-old truck driver was killed by a landslide in Tottori, western Japan, another man was found in a river and later confirmed dead in Yamanashi, west of Tokyo, and a woman in her 60s went missing in Miyazaki, southwestern Japan, after being washed away in an irrigation ditch, according to local authorities.
Major train stations in the metropolitan area were overcrowded in the morning as services remained disrupted following massive cancellations since the day before, while many flights were cancelled through Monday.
"I won't make it on time because trains are way behind schedule," said a woman in her 40s who was commuting to her office in Fuchu, western Tokyo. "I don't know what time I will get there."
A train on the Keio Line collided with a wall that had collapsed over a railway in the capital's Setagaya Ward around 4:45 a.m. None of its 70 passengers were injured, and its operator Keio Corp. resumed services about four hours later.
East Japan Railway Co. shut down all of its train services in the metropolitan area Sunday evening and had only resumed them partially by 9 a.m. Monday. The company said it was the first time it had stopped services early in Tokyo and surrounding areas after informing the public of its plans beforehand.
Central Japan Railway Co. stopped all bullet trains on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka after 5 p.m. Sunday. The services were resumed around 7:30 a.m. Monday.
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