Thousands Evacuated in Japan as Typhoon Man-Yi Brings Floods

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Hundreds of thousands of people were advised or ordered to evacuate in Japan as Typhoon Man-Yi brought flooding, power blackouts and flight cancellations to the western and central parts of the country.

At least one person died, while three were missing and 96 reported injured in 19 prefectures, public broadcaster NHK said. A landslide in Ritto city, 350 kilometers (217 miles) west of Tokyo, killed a 71-year-old woman, it said.

Almost 300,000 people were subject to evacuation notices in Osaka, according to the website of Japan’s third-largest city. Tourists in Kyoto escaped hotels in boats as a river flooded, while members of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces were dispatched to pile sandbags, the Asahi newspaper said. About 45,000 households in 18 prefectures experienced blackouts as of 3 p.m., NHK said.

Man-Yi, the 18th typhoon this season, was near the northern city of Sendai and headed northwest at about 65 kilometers per hour (40 miles per hour) as of 3:50 p.m., the Japan Meteorological Agency said on its website. The maximum wind gust speed was 35 meters (115 feet) per second, it said.

ANA Holdings Inc., the nation’s largest airline, canceled 254 domestic flights as of 4:30 p.m., affecting about 34,500 people, it said in a statement. Japan Airlines Co., the second- biggest carrier, canceled 207 domestic flights as of 4 p.m., affecting 31,640 travelers.

Bullet Trains
Central Japan Railway Co. suspended operations of more than 80 bullet trains between Tokyo and Osaka, the company said on its website. Trains resumed operation at 3 p.m. and were running at reduced speeds, it said.

Bullet trains connecting the northern cities of Morioka and Akita were suspended as of 3:26 p.m., and bullet trains between Tokyo and Nagano, Shin-Aomori and Niigata were delayed, East Japan Railway Co. said on its website.

As many as 560,000 people in Osaka and Kyoto were subject to evacuation notices, the Asahi said. Evacuation advisories were lifted in some areas of Kyoto as of 2:20 p.m. local time today, according to the city’s website.

Ten houses in Fukui Prefecture in central Japan were destroyed, while 154 houses in 13 prefectures were inundated by heavy rain, NHK said.

Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear-power plant, planned to drain rainwater from a site where it stores irradiated water in tanks, due to rising levels caused by the typhoon, it said in a statement.

Markets in Japan are closed today for a national holiday.

Japan is regularly hit by typhoons during the summer months. In 2004, Typhoon Tokage left 95 people dead.

Man-Yi is originally the name of a strait, according to the Hong Kong Observatory, which lists names assigned to storms in the northwest Pacific.

–Editors: Terje Langeland, Frank Longid