Typhoon Hagibis leaves 6 dead, 13 missing

October 13, 2019

Tokyo--Powerful Typhoon Hagibis has left six people dead and 13 others missing in Japan.

The 19th typhoon of this year moved off the Sanriku coast in the Tohoku northeastern region on Sunday morning after crossing the Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan, and the Kanto eastern region including Tokyo from Saturday night to early Sunday. The super typhoon caused record-breaking rains and violent winds in the Tokai central region including Shizuoka, the Kanto-Koshin eastern to central regions, and Tohoku.

Landslides occurred in numerous locations. In the city of Tomioka, Gunma Prefecture, eastern Japan, three houses collapsed due to landslides, killing a male resident in his 60s. In the city of Sagamihara in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, several houses were hit by landslides and fell apart, leaving a woman dead. In the city of Nihonmatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, part of Tohoku, the whereabouts of two people are unknown after landslides.

In Takatsu Ward in the city of Kawasaki in Kanagawa, the first floor of a condominium building was flooded, and a man in his 60s was confirmed dead after being sent to hospital in a state of cardiopulmonary arrest.

Two people died in the eastern prefecture of Tochigi, including a woman who was found dead in a submerged car.

In the city of Tomi in the central prefecture of Nagano, a road caved in ahead of a bridge over the Chikuma River, engulfing three automobiles. Three people went missing in the incident. The vehicles are believed to have been washed away by the river.

Two men are missing after falling into rivers--one in Sendai, the capital of Miyagi Prefecture in Tohoku, and the other in the city of Gotenba in Shizuoka.

In the city of Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, a light truck overturned due to a gust of wind, killing a 50-year-old man inside the vehicle.

Many rivers, including the Chikuma River and the Abukuma River in Fukushima, were flooded by the typhoon. The water level rose to a height of about 2 meters above ground after a 70-meter portion of the levee of the Chikuma River collapsed, according to sources including a local bureau of the land ministry.

Hundreds of people were stranded, including at a residential facility for elderly people in the city of Nagano. The Ground Self-Defense Force was mobilized to rescue the isolated people using helicopters and boats.

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued special heavy rain warnings to 13 prefectures, including Tokyo, from Saturday to early Sunday. All of the special alerts were lifted in stages.

As of 8 a.m. Sunday (11 p.m. Saturday GMT), Typhoon Hagibis was traveling northeast off the Sanriku coast at a speed of 65 kilometers per hour, according to the meteorological agency. Its central atmospheric pressure stood at 975 hectopascals, with a maximum sustained wind speed of 30 meters per second and the maximum instantaneous wind speed of 45 meters per second. Jiji Press