Typhoon Shanshan hits Japan, bringing heavy rain and knocking out power
Japan’s most powerful storm this year slammed into Kyushu, damaging buildings, injuring dozens and disrupting transport
One of Japan’s strongest typhoons in decades dumped torrential rain across southern regions on Thursday, with one person missing and authorities warning of life-threatening flooding and landslides.
Typhoon Shanshan packed gusts of up to 252 km/h (157 miles/h)as it smashed into Japan’s main southern island of Kyushu early on Thursday, making it the most powerful storm this year and one of the strongest at landfall since 1960.
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Typhoon Shanshan slams Japan, bringing heavy rain and taking several lives
The storm then weakened, with maximum gusts of 162 km/h at 5pm (0800 GMT), the weather office said, but it was still dumping heavy rain across Kyushu and beyond as it moved slowly towards the main island of Honshu.
The Japan Meteorological Agency warned that “the risk of a disaster due to heavy rain can rapidly escalate in western Japan as Friday approaches”.
Even before Shanshan hit, precipitation pummelled large parts with three members of the same family killed in a landslide late on Tuesday in Aichi prefecture around 1,000km from Kyushu.
