Tokyo, Sep 25 (IANS) The death toll rose to 11, with three others still missing, after heavy rain brought by a large typhoon lashed the Kanto region in eastern Japan and triggered landslides and flooding earlier this week, local media reported Friday.
Among the deaths, seven were confirmed in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, while four were confirmed in Kanagawa Prefecture, southwest of the capital. The most recently found victim was a woman in her 70s who had been reported missing after a landslide in Yokosuka, Kanagawa, according to public broadcaster NHK.
Police and firefighters are continuing to search for the missing people, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Typhoon Dujuan, which approached Japan’s eastern Pacific coast on Monday, brought record rainfall to the Kanto region and the Izu Islands, triggering landslides and river flooding and wreaking havoc in areas near Tokyo, particularly in Chiba Prefecture.
As of Thursday afternoon, nearly 1,000 buildings in Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures have been destroyed, damaged, or flooded due to the typhoon, NHK reported.
At Lake Imbanuma in northern Chiba, some levees were breached following the typhoon, leaving surrounding residential areas, rice paddies and streets inundated. Although water levels have been gradually falling, flooding continues, with recovery work ongoing into Friday.
The typhoon also caused considerable inconvenience to daily life and transportation. As of around 6 am local time on Friday, about 11,790 households in Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures were still without power. Train services in Chiba were suspended or reduced on certain sections of many lines, with some services not expected to resume for about three months.
Meanwhile, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency, another typhoon, the 26th of the season, could approach the country in the coming days, potentially bringing rough seas and severe weather to the southern island prefecture of Okinawa and other areas.
