Japan on ‘highest alert’ for Typoon Shanshan, forcing Toyota to shut down production

Typhoon Shanshan, prompting evacuations and halting Toyota production. The storm brings violent winds, heavy rain, and landslides

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Rescuers search for missing residents living at a house in Japan’s Aichi prefecture that collapsed on Wednesday due to heavy rain triggered by Typhoon Yanyan. Photo: Jiji Press/EPA-EFE

Published: 2:52pm, 28 Aug 2024Updated: 6:37pm, 28 Aug 2024

Japan braced on Wednesday for its strongest typhoon of the year, with authorities advising tens of thousands of people to evacuate and issuing the highest warning level for wind and storm surges on the main southern island of Kyushu.

“Typhoon Shanshan is expected to approach southern Kyushu with extremely strong force through Thursday, and it may make landfall,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters.

“It is expected that violent winds, high waves, and storm surge at levels that many people have never experienced before may occur,” said Hayashi, the top government spokesman.

The approach of the storm, packing gusts of up to 252 kilometres (157 miles) per hour and already bringing widespread heavy rain, prompted auto giant Toyota to suspend production at all 14 of its factories.

Typhoon Shanshan bears down on Japan’s Kyushu region in this satellite photo released on Wednesday. Photo: Japan Meteorological Agency / Handout via AFP

Two people remained unaccounted for on Wednesday after a landslide buried a house with five family members inside in Gamagori, a city in central Aichi prefecture.