Japan orders evacuations as Typhoon Hagibis arrives
Hundreds of thousands of households in Japan were
advised to evacuate due to fears of flooding as a powerful typhoon was set to
make landfall late on Saturday, bringing with it the heaviest rain and winds in
60 years.
A man in his forties was killed in an overturned car
early on Saturday in Chiba prefecture east of Tokyo, where high winds were
reported, according to public broadcaster NHK. It said four other people were
injured when roofs were blown off houses in the prefecture, which was hit hard
by typhoon Faxai a month ago.
A number of municipal governments issued evacuation
advisories to areas particularly at risk, including some in the most populous
greater Tokyo region, according to public broadcaster NHK.
Typhoon Hagibis, which means “speed” in the
Philippine language Tagalog, is due to make landfall on Japan’s main island of
Honshu late on Saturday, a month after one of the strongest typhoons to hit the
country in recent years destroyed or damaged 30,000 houses and caused extensive
power outages.
Stores, factories and subway systems have been shut
down as a precaution, while Japanese Formula One Grand Prix organisers
cancelled all practice and qualifying sessions scheduled for Saturday. Two
matches of the Rugby World Cup due to be played on Saturday were also
cancelled.
Storm surges are expected along the Pacific coast of
Honshu on Saturday and Sunday along with torrential rain, raising the risk of
floods and landslides. Typhoon Ida, known as the “Kanogawa Typhoon” in
Japanese, killed more than 1,000 people in 1958.
