1 killed as Typhoon Mindulle slashes Tokyo, heads to northern Japan

Typhoon Mindulle on Monday slashed areas around the Japanese capital with torrential rainfall and strong gusts, leaving at least one person dead and 53 injured.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), the typhoon, the 9th of the season, made landfall near Tateyama in Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo, at around 12:30 p.m. on Monday and was heading north with maximum wind gust speed of 180 kph and an atmospheric pressure of 975 hectopascals (hpa) at its center.

The windstorms and torrential rain on Monday slashed six prefectures in central and eastern Japan, including Tokyo.

A 58-year-old woman was swept away by flood waters and was found on a road in Sagamihara of eastern Japan's Kanagawa Prefecture, southwest of Tokyo. She died after being sent to local hospital.

Train services were delayed or canceled across Kanto region in eastern and Tohoku in northeastern Japan. Meanwhile, over 500 flights in Tokyo were canceled, affecting at least 73,000 passengers.

In addition, some bullet trains in northeastern Japan, and sea travel including ferry services linking Hokkaido and Ibaraki Prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, were disrupted by the storm.

The typhoon arrived in the Tohoku area in northeastern Japan Monday night and the weather agency expected it will head north to Hokkaido in northern Japan by Tuesday. These areas are on high alert of heavy rain, flood, landslides, strong winds and high waves.

It also expected precipitation to reach up to 400 millimeters in the 24 hours through Tuesday morning in central Japan's Tokai area, up to 300 mm in the Kanto and Koshin regions of eastern Japan and up to 200 mm in Tohoku and Hokkaido.

The typhoon also caused power cuts in eastern Japan's prefectures including Chiba and Ibaraki on Monday, affecting thousands of homes.

Source : XINHUA