A powerful tropical storm hit central and western Japan on Tuesday with strong winds and rain, causing two injuries, flooding and power outages and paralyzing air and ground transport.
Storm Lan made landfall at around 5:00 am (9:00 pm Monday in Lisbon) near Cape Shionomisaki in central Wakayama prefecture, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). English).
The storm brought winds gusting up to 144 kilometers per hour and was heading northwest, although the JMA forecast it could turn east towards the island of Hokkaido over the waters between Japan and the Korean peninsula.
In Wakayama, two people were injured.
Lan, which was initially classified as a typhoon, caused damage in several parts of the country.
In Maizuru, north of Kyoto, a river burst its banks, carrying torrents of water and mud into some houses.
In Nara, south of Kyoto, a building’s scaffolding collapsed and the partial collapse of a wall at a train station in Tsuruhashi, Osaka Prefecture, disrupted local rail services.
Local municipalities have advised more than 180,000 residents in the region to shelter in safer locations, such as community centers.
The JMA forecast up to 400 millimeters of rain in the Tokai region, in central Japan, until Wednesday morning.
The agency urged residents in the area to stay indoors and warned of possible landslides, floods and storms.
More than 50,000 homes were without power in nine prefectures in the central and western regions, including Osaka, Wakayama, Mie and Kyoto.
The storm, which hit Japan in the middle of the week of the Buddhist Bon holiday, in which the dead are remembered, affected many Japanese people who intended to travel, as many transport operators decided to suspend services.
Central Japan Railway Co. said that operations on the Shinkansen rapid train between Nagoya, in central Japan, and Okayama, in the west, will be suspended today, and that service between the capital, Tokyo, and Nagoya has been reduced.
Highways in the region were also closed and around 800 domestic flights scheduled for Tuesday were cancelled, forcing many people to spend the night at Osaka airport.
Representatives of several municipalities canceled plans to participate in an annual memorial marking the end of World War II, on August 15, 1945.
Japan’s annual high school baseball tournament, an extremely popular event in the country, was also affected. The games scheduled for this Tuesday at Koshien Stadium, in Hyogo Prefecture, were postponed to Wednesday.
Source: https://observador.pt/2023/08/15/tempestade-tropical-causa-dois-feridos-e-suspende-voos-e-comboios-no-japao/
