TOKOYO: At least three people were missing as Typhoon Cimaron pounded western Japan on Thursday evening, bringing strong winds and torrential rains and disrupting hundreds of flights. It is the latest in a series of weather-related calamities to hit the country during the summer this year.
The season’s 20th typhoon made landfall around the southern part of Tokushima prefecture at around 9 pm, according to the Meteorological Agency.
The storm had caused the cancellation of more than 350 flights as well as many train services and passenger ferries, Kyodo News reported, as the weather agency warned of mudslides, heavy rain and high waves.
The storm could generate waves up to 11 metres high around the south-western island of Shikoku and the Kinki region, it said.
In the central city of Shizuoka, local authorities were searching for three missing university students on the city’s shore, where a high wave warning had been issued.
They were feared to have been swept away by high waves after being in the area Wednesday night, according to Kyodo News.
At a government meeting earlier in the day, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warned of record rainfall which would be brought by Typhoon Cimaron and Typhoon Soulik, the season’s 19th.
Typhoon Soulik is expected to make landfall on the Korean Peninsula overnight after passing near Japan’s southern islands.
Cimaron was around southern Tokushima on Shikoku as 9 pm, travelling north at 35 kilometres per hour (kph), with maximum sustained winds of 144 kph and gusts of 198 kph, according to the agency.
Rainfall of up to 500 millimetres is forecast for Shikoku and the Kinki region and up to 400 millimetres for the Tokai region by evening on Friday, the agency said.
This summer, Japan suffered its deadliest series of weather-related disasters in over three decades.
— dpa
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