Image copyright EPA Image caption Officials say heavy rain could trigger flooding and landslides

A powerful storm has hit central and western Japan, injuring at least 21 people and cutting power to tens of thousands of homes.

Typhoon Jongdari (or "skylark" in Korean) brought torrential rain and winds of up to 180km/h (110mph).

It made landfall on the country's main island, Honshu, at 01:00 (16:00 GMT Saturday) on Sunday.

Weather officials have since downgraded it to a tropical storm, but warn that heavy rain could trigger landslides.

Japan's public broadcaster NHK reports that 150,000 homes are without power.

As of midday local time, the storm was moving westwards and tens of thousands had been urged to leave their homes.

On Saturday, evacuation orders were issued to 36,400 people in the western city of Shobara, and 6,300 in the city of Kure.

"We are afraid that people may not be able to evacuate due to strong wind or floods blocking evacuation routes," said Hiroshima's governor, Hidehiko Yuzaki.

"I would like people to evacuate in advance so that they can save their lives."

Image copyright AFP/Getty Images Image caption Damage to an apartment caused by Typhoon Jongdari in the city of Nara, on Japan's main island

Images have shown huge waves crashing on to rocks off the coast south-west of Tokyo, and ferry services have been suspended.

Late on Saturday, the rough seas smashed through the window of a hotel restaurant in the tourist town of Atami, injuring five people.

"We didn't expect this could happen... Waves gushed into the restaurant as the window glass broke but we are grateful that customers followed evacuation instructions," a hotel employee told AFP.

Hundreds of flights were also cancelled over the weekend as the storm neared the coast.

Weather-ravaged

Japan is still reeling from one of its worst flooding disasters in decades earlier this month, which saw more than eight million people ordered to leave their homes. More than 4,000 survivors are still living in temporary shelters.

Image copyright EPA Image caption Cars were swept away by high waves sparked by the typhoon

The floods were swiftly followed by an unprecedented heatwave which was declared a natural disaster.

At least 80 people have been killed by the temperature, and more than 22,000 hospitalised with heat stroke.

The country is now in the grip of typhoon season, which sees tropical storms barrel across the Pacific throughout the summer months.</s>Typhoon Jongdari made landfall east of Kyoto, Japan, just after midnight local time on Sunday, coming ashore as the latest in a long string of weather-related disasters to plague the Japanese archipelago. The weather has not been kind to Japan this month. The typhoon’s landfall comes after weeks of intense rainfall, widespread flooding, and a deadly heatwave.

Jongdari came ashore in Ise Bay with maximum sustained winds near 80 MPH. The typhoon will weaken as it traverses the island nation over the next day. While the storm is rather tiny in size, some areas affected by the historic floods that struck western Japan earlier this month could see even more heavy rain from this storm. NHK World reports that Uda, east of Osaka, recorded 4.33 inches of rain in just one hour as Jongdari made landfall on Sunday. The agency also reports that one man is missing after several cars were washed into the ocean by high waves near Tokyo as the typhoon approached on Saturday.

Typhoon Jongdari’s rainfall will cover some of the same areas affected by the recent floods. Earlier in July, a deluge of record rainfall in western Japan led to historic flooding and mudslides that killed more than 200 people, marking one of the country’s worst weather-related disasters in the modern era. Much of western Japan recorded more than a foot of rain, with some areas seeing multiple feet of rain over the span of two weeks. The rainfall was the result of persistent heavy showers and thunderstorms training over the same areas for days at a time.

A historic heat wave immediately succeeded the lethal flooding. Temperatures regularly climbed into the 90s and even 100s across much of Japan’s most densely populated areas for two weeks after the flooding. A 106°F high temperature in Kumagaya on July 23, 2018, became the hottest temperature ever recorded in Japan, beating the previous all-time record high of 105°F set back in 2013. Dozens of people died during the heat wave and thousands more were hospitalized as a result of heat-related illnesses.</s>More than 100 flights were canceled in Japan, and residents still reeling from deadly floods sand-bagged rivers and prepared for more evacuations as a powerful typhoon neared Saturday.

Typhoon Jongdari, meaning “skylark” in Korean, was expected to make landfall late Saturday or early Sunday.

The typhoon will bring heavy rain across the main island of Honshu, with 400 mm (15 inches) possible in the region around Tokyo in the 24 hours to Sunday noon, Japan Meteorological Agency said.

Regions in western Japan ravaged by floods and landslides that killed more than 200 people earlier this month are likely to be hit by downpours, and the agency called on residents to be ready for possible evacuation advisory by local authorities.

In Mabi, one of the hardest hit in Japan’s worst natural disaster in 36 years, workers used heavy machinery to build sand bag banks along a river in case torrential rain caused more flooding, public broadcaster NHK reported.

Japan Airlines said it had canceled 107 flights leaving and arriving at Haneda in Tokyo and other airports.

A raft of summer festivals were canceled or postponed in the Tokyo area, including the famed Sumidagawa river fireworks festival scheduled for Saturday night.

July has seen Japan hit by one weather disaster after another, including a record-breaking heat wave that saw temperatures surge to 41.1 Celsius (106 Fahrenheit) near Tokyo on Monday and has killed at least 80 people, with more than 20,000 taken to hospitals for treatment.</s>A weakening typhoon traveled over Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu after passing through western regions on Sunday, injuring at least 24 people and causing extreme heat in the Hokuriku region facing the Sea of Japan.

But no injuries or damage due to Typhoon Jongdari were immediately reported in regions ravaged by flooding and landslides earlier this month, as local authorities had advised residents to evacuate early as a precaution.

The typhoon made landfall in central Japan's Mie Prefecture in the early hours of Sunday. It brought intense rainfall across wide areas and led to temperatures rising close to 40 C in Hokuriku in a phenomenon known as foehn wind, or moist air becoming warm and dry after passing a high mountain.

The injuries sustained were mostly due to accidents triggered by strong winds or high waves. Damage to property, such as roofs blown off by strong gusts, was also reported in several prefectures.

With the typhoon taking an unusual route toward the west, the disaster-struck areas remained on high alert as the weather agency warned of further flooding and landslides, as well as storms and high waves. Evacuation advisories were issued for some areas.

"I was afraid of getting more torrential rain, but I'm relieved that we did not have any major damage this time," said Nobuhiro Kanetomo, 40, in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture, one of the hardest-hit areas in the rain disaster.

At 8 p.m., Typhoon Jongdari was moving over northern Kyushu at a speed of 25 kilometers per hour and packing winds of up to 90 kph, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. It had an atmospheric pressure of 992 hectopascals at its center.

Transportation has also been affected, with some Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways flights connecting Tokyo to western Japan canceled.

West Japan Railway Co. and some other railway operators said some of their train services were either delayed or halted.

On Saturday night in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, 15 vehicles including an ambulance were stuck on a water-covered road near the ocean due to high waves, and were eventually caught up in them. About 30 people were evacuated to higher ground.

The same night, five people staying at a hotel in Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan, were slightly hurt due to broken windowpanes caused by high waves.

Rain will continue in some areas even after the typhoon passes. Radar data showed there was rainfall of more than 120 millimeters per hour in Sakurai, Nara Prefecture, in western Japan.

Typhoons typically approach the Japanese archipelago from the southwest, and many follow a southwest-to-northeast course due partly to the effect of the westerly jet stream and high pressure over the Pacific.

The unusual course prompted Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to warn about the weekend storm on Friday, particularly for those affected by the massive flooding in western Japan that killed 224 people and destroyed tens of thousands of homes earlier this month.

Temperatures are also expected to rise after the typhoon, bringing back the risk of heatstroke and heat exhaustion.

The country has been gripped by a heat wave that immediately followed the rain disaster and which the agency has declared a "natural disaster." Extreme heat pushed the mercury to a record high 41.1 C on July 23 and claimed dozens of lives, mostly elderly people, from heatstroke.

In the 24-hour period through noon Monday, 200 mm of rain may fall in some areas in western and southwestern Japan.</s>Officials say heavy rain could trigger flooding and landslides

A powerful storm has hit central and western Japan, injuring at least 19 people and cutting power to thousands of homes.

Typhoon Jongdari (or "skylark" in Korean) brought torrential rain and winds of up to 180km/h (110mph).

It made landfall on the country's main island, Honshu, at 01:00 (16:00 GMT Saturday) on Sunday.

Weather officials have since downgraded it to a tropical storm, but warn that heavy rain could trigger landslides.

Japan's public broadcaster NHK reports that 150,000 homes are without power.

As of midday local time, the storm was moving westwards and tens of thousands had been urged to leave their homes.

On Saturday, evacuation orders were issued to 36,400 people in the western city of Shobara, and 6,300 in the city of Kure.

"We are afraid that people may not be able to evacuate due to strong wind or floods blocking evacuation routes," said Hiroshima's governor, Hidehiko Yuzaki.

"I would like people to evacuate in advance so that they can save their lives."

Images have shown huge waves crashing onto rocks off the coast south-west of Tokyo, and ferry services have been suspended.

Late on Saturday, the rough seas smashed through the window of a hotel restaurant in the tourist town of Atami, injuring five people.

"We didn't expect this could happen... Waves gushed into the restaurant as the window glass broke but we are grateful that customers followed evacuation instructions," a hotel staffer told AFP.

Hundreds of flights were also cancelled over the weekend as the storm neared the coast.

Provinces have been on high alert. One resident in Okayama, one of the prefectures worst-hit by the floods, told NHK he was afraid Typhoon Jongdari would "deal a double punch" to the region.

Meanwhile, Okayama crisis management official Koji Kunitomi told AFP: "We have been on emergency alert the whole time since the rain disaster" in early July.

"Fortunately, so far, we haven't seen new flooding" as a result of Typhoon Jondari, he added.

Japan is still reeling from one of its worst flooding disasters in decades earlier this month, which saw more than eight million people ordered to leave their homes. More than 4,000 survivors are still living in temporary shelters.

The floods were swiftly followed by an unprecedented heatwave which was declared a natural disaster.

At least 80 people have been killed by the temperature, and more than 22,000 hospitalised with heat stroke.

The country is now in the grip of typhoon season, which sees tropical storms barrel across the Pacific throughout the summer months.</s>A powerful typhoon is on track to batter parts of western Japan that were hit earlier this month by devastating flooding and landslides, Japanese officials warned on Friday.

Typhoon Jongdari is currently packing winds of nearly 200 kilometres (125 miles) an hour and is forecast to hit the country’s main island on Saturday night, Japan’s Meteorological Agency said

It is taking a relatively rare northwest course, which will put the disaster-hit areas directly in its crosshairs. Most typhoons that cross Japan track northeast.

Authorities are warning of heavy rain, landslides, strong winds and high waves, and urging people to consider early evacuation.

On Friday, the storm was about 1,200 kilometres southwest of Tokyo, heading towards Chichijima Island, but it is expected to barrel towards the western Chugoku region by late Saturday.

The region was hit earlier this month by record rainfall that caused flooding and landslides, killing around 220 people.

It was Japan’s worst weather-related disaster in decades, and many residents of affected areas are still living in shelters or damaged homes.

“Since this will be the first heavy rain since the downpours, residents need to be fully on alert,” Ryuta Kurora, chief forecaster at the weather agency, told reporters.

“In the disaster zone, even normal rainfall could lead to damage from landslides or flooding of rivers,” Kurora said.

“The situation has significantly changed” because of the disaster in western Japan, he said. “Early evacuation is really needed.”

Officials are particularly cautious after the deadly rains earlier this month because many people became trapped after failing to heed evacuation orders, while some critics said orders were issued too late.

Local authorities in affected areas were bracing for the incoming storm even as residents continued to clear mud from their houses and vehicles.

In the remote town of Kumano in Hiroshima prefecture, local officials scrambled to devise ways to keep 24,000 residents informed about the incoming typhoon.

“We are making announcements through a network of loudspeakers set up across our town,” said Yoshihiro Minpo, a disaster management official.

The town was considering asking residents to avoid visiting homes that were damaged in the rains over the weekend, particularly in one neighbourhood that was badly hit by huge, killer landslides, he told AFP.

“We are using our own FM radio station, as well as an emergency announcement system to deliver messages to area mobile phones,” he said.

Japan is now in typhoon season, and is regularly struck by major storm systems during the summer and autumn.</s>A powerful typhoon slammed into central Japan Saturday, prompting local authorities to issue orders with western areas recently devastated by floods and landslides in the storm's crosshairs.

Typhoon Jongdari, packing winds of up to 180 km an hour, made landfall in Ise in Mie prefecture around midnight, according to the nation's public broadcaster NHK.

The storm, which had already dumped torrential rain over eastern Japan, was moving west maintaining its strength, Japan's Meteorological Agency said.

TV footage showed high waves smashing onto rocks and seawalls on the coastline in Shimoda, southwest of Tokyo, and trees buffeted by strong winds and heavy rain.

One man was reportedly missing in Kanagawa Prefecture, near Tokyo, after several vehicles, including an ambulance, became stuck on a wave-battered ocean road.

The storm is expected to barrel towards the western Chugoku region later on Sunday, where record rainfall earlier this month unleashed flooding and landslides, killing around 220 people and leaving more than 4,000 survivors still living in temporary shelters.

The weather agency warned of heavy rain, landslides, strong winds and high waves, and urged people to consider early

"We want people especially in the downpour-hit regions to pay close attention to advisories," meteorological agency official Minako Sakurai told reporters.

The western city of Shobara in prefecture issued an evacuation order to some 36,400 residents, including 991 who urgently needed to move to shelters, officials said.

TV footage showed workers and residents hurriedly piling up sandbags to build temporary barriers against potential floods.

"We strongly urge residents to take action before the typhoon hits the region," Masaharu Kataoka, a city official, told AFP.

More evacuation orders and advisories were issued in western Japan, including Kure in prefecture, where some 6,380 residents were urged to evacuate, news reports said.

In Japan, evacuation orders are not mandatory and people often remain at home and are later trapped by rapidly rising water or sudden landslides.

"It's going to deal a double punch," a resident in Okayama told public broadcaster NHK, referring to the recent killer downpours and the incoming typhoon.

"We are seriously worried," he said.

More than 410 domestic flights have been cancelled so far because of Typhoon Jongdari, while ferry services connecting Tokyo with nearby islands were also cancelled due to high waves, news reports said.

The flooding in the Chugoku region was Japan's worst weather-related disaster in decades, and many residents of affected areas are still living in shelters or damaged homes.

"We are fully ready 24 hours a day to evacuate residents," Tadahiko Mizushima, an official of Okayama prefecture in Chugoku, told AFP.

"We are paying special attention to the areas where restoration of river banks is underway as it would be the first heavy rain since the disaster."

 

 Officials are particularly cautious after the deadly downpours because many people did not heed evacuation orders and became trapped. Some critics said the orders were issued too late.

"We are afraid that people may not be able to evacuate due to strong wind or floods blocking evacuation routes," governor Hidehiko Yuzaki told reporters.

"I would like people to evacuate in advance so that they can save their lives," Yuzaki said.

Japan is now in typhoon season and is regularly struck by major storm systems during the summer and autumn.</s>Hundreds of flights have been cancelled in Japan as the country braces for a powerful typhoon, bringing winds of up to 180km/h (110mph).

Typhoon Jongdari (or "skylark" in Korean), is expected to make landfall on the country's main island, Honshu, late on Saturday or early on Sunday.

The storm comes less than a month after floods killed more than 200 people, and then a heatwave left dozens dead.

Japan's Meteorological Agency has told locals to be ready for evacuation.

At 18:05 local time (09:05 GMT) Jongdari was situated about 200km south of Tokyo and forecast to make landfall close to the city of Nagoya.

More than eight million people were ordered to leave their homes earlier in July when torrential rain saw rivers burst their banks, but some became trapped after failing to heed the order.

Critics said the official warning came too late, and officials are urging those in disaster-struck areas to stay vigilant.

"We are afraid that people may not be able to evacuate due to strong wind or floods blocking evacuation routes," said Hiroshima's governor, Hidehiko Yuzaki.

"I would like people to evacuate in advance so that they can save their lives."

The prefectures worst hit by flooding were Okayama, Hiroshima and Yamaguchi, in the Chugoku region, and more than 4,000 survivors are still living in temporary shelters there.

"We are fully ready 24 hours a day to evacuate residents," Tadahiko Mizushima, an official in Okayama, told the AFP news agency.

"We are paying special attention to the areas where restoration of river banks is under way as it would be the first heavy rain since the disaster."

"It's going to deal a double punch," one Okayama man told Japan's public broadcaster NHK. "We are seriously worried."

Sandbags are being rapidly deployed as barriers against the feared flooding.

Images already show sizeable waves off the coast south-west of Tokyo, and ferry services are suspended. Forecasters say the area around the capital could see 40cm (15in) of rain in 24 hours from noon on Saturday.

The floods earlier in July were Japan's worst weather disaster in decades, and were swiftly followed by an unprecedented heatwave which has been declared a natural disaster.

At least 80 people have been killed by the temperature, and more than 22,000 hospitalised with heat stroke.

The country is now in the grip of typhoon season, which sees tropical storms barrel across the Pacific throughout the summer months.</s>(Bloomberg) -- Typhoon Jongdari is set to make landfall on Japan’s mainland this weekend, bringing heavy rain and strong winds to much of a country hit in recent weeks by a deadly heatwave and historic flooding.

The typhoon was located off Chichijima, an island in the Pacific about 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) southeast of Tokyo, as of 2 p.m. Japan time Friday. Carrying sustained winds of 144 kilometers (89 miles) per hour, it’s expected to speed up and maintain its intensity as it nears the mainland on Saturday afternoon, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

After skirting Tokyo on Saturday, the typhoon is predicted to track towards the west of the country, near regions that were the worst hit by the historic rain and flooding. More than two hundred were killed in the floods, with some roads still impassable and train lines suspended.

“It’s possible that the typhoon could have a very large impact” on the flood-hit areas, a spokesman for the Japan Meteorological Agency said, and while the agency has yet to issue any specific warnings for these areas, it could do so over the weekend.

For now, the agency is warning many regions of strong rainfall of up to 500 millimeters over 24 hours, and urging people to be on guard for the risk of landslides and flooding. Tokyo’s Sumidagawa fireworks festival, which attracts close to a million visitors, has been postponed to Sunday as a result of the approaching storm.

Jongdari would be the first tropical cyclone to make landfall in Japan this year. Recent years have seen an increase in the number of typhoons directly hitting Japan, with at least four in each of the past four years.

To contact the reporter on this story: Shiho Takezawa in Tokyo at stakezawa1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kazunori Takada at ktakada17@bloomberg.net, Gearoid Reidy</s>A man using an umbrella struggles against a heavy rain and wind as Typhoon Jongdari approaches Japan's mainland in Tokyo.

TOKYO - A powerful typhoon buffeted Japan's eastern coast on Saturday evening, prompting local authorities to issue early evacuation orders, with western areas recently devastated by floods and landslides in the storm's crosshairs.

Typhoon Jongdari, packing winds of up to 180 kilometres (110 miles) an hour, is forecast to make landfall on the country's main island on Saturday night or early Sunday, according to Japan's Meteorological Agency.

TV footage showed high waves smashing onto rocks and seawalls on the eastern coastline and planes struggling to land amid strong winds.

By 9pm (1200 GMT) the storm's centre was located some 60 kilometres out to sea southeast of Omaezaki City.

Kyodo news agency reported that one man was missing in Kanagawa Prefecture, near Tokyo, after several vehicles, including an ambulance, became stuck on a wave-battered ocean road.

Typhoon Jongdari is expected to barrel towards the western Chugoku region Sunday, where record rainfall earlier this month unleashed flooding and landslides, killing around 220 people and leaving more than 4,000 survivors still living in temporary shelters.

The weather agency warned of heavy rain, landslides, strong winds and high waves, and urged people to consider early evacuation.

"We want people especially in the downpour-hit regions to pay close attention to evacuation advisories," meteorological agency official Minako Sakurai told reporters.

The western city of Shobara in Hiroshima prefecture issued an evacuation order to some 36,400 residents as a precautionary measure, officials said.

TV footage showed workers and residents hurriedly piling up sandbags to build temporary barriers against potential floods.

"Although it has not rained here, we are urging people to evacuate before it gets dark," Masaharu Kataoka, a city official, told AFP.

More evacuation orders and advisories were issued in western Japan, including Kure in Hiroshima prefecture, where some 6,380 residents were urged to evacuate, news reports said.

In Japan, evacuation orders are not mandatory and people often remain at home, and are later trapped by rapidly rising water or sudden landslides.

"It's going to deal a double punch," a resident in Okayama told public broadcaster NHK, referring to the recent killer downpours and the incoming typhoon.

"We are seriously worried," he said.

More than 410 domestic flights have been cancelled so far because of Typhoon Jongdari, while ferry services connecting Tokyo with nearby islands were also cancelled due to high waves, news reports said.

The flooding in the Chugoku region was Japan's worst weather-related disaster in decades, and many residents of affected areas are still living in shelters or damaged homes.

"We are fully ready 24 hours a day to evacuate residents," Tadahiko Mizushima, an official of Okayama prefecture in Chugoku, told AFP.

"We are paying special attention to the areas where restoration of river banks is underway as it would be the first heavy rain since the disaster." Officials are particularly cautious after the deadly downpours because many people did not heed evacuation orders and became trapped. Some critics said the orders were issued too late.

"We are afraid that people may not be able to evacuate due to strong wind or floods blocking evacuation routes," Hiroshima governor Hidehiko Yuzaki told reporters.

"I would like people to evacuate in advance so that they can save their lives," Yuzaki said.

Japan is now in typhoon season, and is regularly struck by major storm systems during the summer and autumn.
Typhoon Jongdari hits central and western Japan, injuring at least 21 people and cutting power to tens of thousands of homes. The typhoon is the latest in the series of weather events to affect the country, following devastating floods and a fatal heat wave earlier in the month.