Typhoon kills 26 in Japan

 

China.org.cn, September 5, 2011

Powerful Typhoon Talas which lashed Japan on Saturday and Sunday, has left 26 people dead and 54 missing, Kyodo News reported.

An aerial view shows a flooded residential area caused by the strong tropical storm Talas in Kiho town, Mie prefecture, in western Japan September 4, 2011. [Xinhua]

At least 3,600 people were left isolated by landslides and collapsed bridges in four Wakayama municipalities, Kyodo News reported.

Evacuation orders and advisories were issued to 460,000 people in the region, which is hundreds of miles from the country's tsunami-ravaged northeastern coast.

Police and firefighters started search for the missing on Monday in Nara and Wakayama prefectures after the torrential rains brought about by Typhoon Talas.

But the full extent of damage has not been confirmed yet as rescuers cannot reach isolated areas in the mountains by helicopter, police and firefighters said. 

Japan's central government Sunday dispatched an investigation team  to assess the scale of the damage in the prefecture hard hit by the the typhoon.

As of 3 p.m. on Sunday, Talas, packing winds of up to 108 kilometers per hour near its center, was traveling slowly northeast over waters off the Sea of Japan coast in western Japan after moving across Okayama and Tottori prefectures on the main island of Honshu, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.