Typhoon Hagibis: At least two killed as horror winds batter Japan with six million told to flee their homes

Jacob Jarvis12 October 2019

Typhoon Hagibis has killed at least two people while millions of residents have been told to evacuate their homes as horror winds battered Japan.

A 50-year-old man was killed near Tokyo early on Saturday in a car overturned by punishing winds.

Another person died after being washed away in a car, public broadcaster NHK said.

There are fears for nine people who remain missing in landslides and flooding, it said.

Authorities issued evacuation advisories and orders for more than six million people across the country, as the storm unleashed the heaviest rain and winds in years.

Typhoon Hagibis - In pictures

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Some 80 injuries have been reported so far, while more than 270,000 households lost power, NHK said.

The storm, which the government said could be the strongest to hit Tokyo since 1958, brought record-breaking rainfall in many areas.

The popular resort town of Hakone, was dealt a whopping 37 inches of rain over 24 hours.

People watch the Isuzu River swollen by Typhoon Hagibis, in Ise
AP

Typhoon Hagibis, which means "speed" in the Philippine language Tagalog, made landfall on Japan's main island of Honshu on Saturday evening.

A magnitude 5.7 earthquake shook Tokyo shortly after, compounding the carnage in the city.

Even as the typhoon moved away from the capital late on Saturday, one expert warned of further flooding.

The earthquake was factor 5.3 on the Richter scale.
Jiji Press/AFP

This came as several surrounding prefectures began releasing water from dams, letting it flow downstream.

"The situation is now worse than this evening," Nobuyuki Tsuchiya, director of the Japan Riverfront Research Center, told Reuters.

About 1.5 million people in Tokyo live below sea level.

On Saturday, Tokyo's Haneda airport and Narita airport in Chiba both stopped flights from landing and connecting trains were suspended.

There were scenes of decimation across Japan
JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty Images

This forced the cancellation of more than a thousand flights.

Train operators suspended bullet train services extensively, while many train and subway lines in Tokyo were also down for most of Saturday.

Usually bustling entertainment and shopping districts such as Shibuya and Ginza were deserted, while Tokyo Disneyland was closed on Saturday in its first weather-related closure since 1984.

Many people in and around Tokyo took shelter in temporary evacuation facilities early, before the worst of the storm arrived.

Meanwhile, Scotland's Rugby World Cup game against Japan is still uncertain of going ahead.

The match, which will decide the outcome of Pool A, is still scheduled for Sunday despite the impact the typhoon.

However, World Rugby and tournament organisers will make a decision on whether the match goes ahead on Sunday morning once the damage following the typhoon has been assessed.

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