2 killed, 3 Missing as Typhoon Talim Lashes Japan
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Typhoon Talim left a trail of destruction in its wake after making landfall on Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido and buffeting both eastern and western coasts of the country, local media reported Monday.
Japan's public broadcaster NHK quoting local police and fire officials said that the typhoon has left two people dead and three others missing, while at least 35 people have been injured nationwide over the weekend.
According to latest local reports Monday, mudslides triggered by Talim have led to some 700 homes in the western prefecture of Oita being isolated, Xinhua news agency reported.
In the cities of Saiki and Tsukumi, 1,264 people have been cut off from roads and transportation networks and emergency water supplies had to be delivered to the areas as a temporary measure to sustain those who remain stranded, local media reported.
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) has maintained advisories for areas that are far from the center of the storm in the north of Japan, stating that winds could widen when the typhoon becomes an extra tropical depression.
The weather agency said that Talim will likely be downgraded to an extra tropical depression on Monday night as it heads off Hokkaido and towards the Russian island of Sakhalin in the Northern Pacific Ocean.
The JMA warned, however, that torrential rain and strong gusts could still be expected through Monday evening in wide areas across Japan's north. In Hokkaido particularly, up to 80 mm of rain per hour could be expected.
Talim was clocked at a speed of 65 km per hour around 120 km south-southwest of Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido, earlier on Monday and had an atmospheric pressure of 975 hectopascals.
The typhoon was packing winds of up to 162 kph, the weather agency said.
In Kagawa Prefecture, located in the northeast of Shikoku Island, an 86-year-old woman was killed when her home was leveled by a landslide, local media reported.
In Kochi Prefecture, also on Shikoku Island, a 60-year-old man was found dead inside a car sunken in a river, media reports said Monday.
Three men are still unaccounted for in Kochi and Oita prefectures. They went missing after they went to check on their local businesses, reports said.
The 71-year-old man in Oita Prefecture is thought to have been swept away by a swollen river, local police officials said, as searches near his home continued.
On Sunday, more than 800 flights were canceled as a result of the typhoon and 272 flights scheduled for Monday were also suspended.
Japan's Shinkansen bullet train operations were also severely affected by the typhoon, and while many services have since resumed, the Hokkaido bullet train has had its services halted, according to its operator Hokkaido Railway Company.
