OITA, Japan: Typhoon Shanshan slowly barrelled up the Japanese archipelago on Friday (Aug 30), dumping torrential rains and causing transport havoc as its reported death toll reached five.
The typhoon, one of the strongest to hit Japan in decades, had weakened by early morning, though gusts were still reaching 126kmh.
Even before making landfall on the island of Kyushu, a landslide caused by the heavy rains preceding it killed three members of the same family late Tuesday in Aichi prefecture, around 1,000km away.
Two more people were reported to have died, including a man last seen on a small boat in Kyushu and another whose two-storey home partially collapsed in Tokushima prefecture on the neighbouring island of Shikoku.
At least 81 others have been injured, including many hurt by broken glass after the typhoon smashed windows and ripped tiles off roofs when it slammed into Kyushu on Thursday with gusts of up to 252kmh.
Authorities issued their highest alert in several areas, with more than five million people advised to evacuate, although it was unclear how many did.
As far away as the town of Ninomiya near Tokyo, authorities urged residents to take “immediate measures” to secure safety, such as moving to higher floors after a local river flooded.
Some parts of Kyushu saw record rains for August, with the town of Misato recording a staggering 791.5mm in 48 hours, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
Power cuts hit more than 250,000 Kyushu households but the utility operator said on Friday that only 6,500 were still without electricity as engineers repaired damaged transmission lines.
Overnight, many motorways were fully or partially closed in Kyushu, as well as others further afield, media reports said.
