More than 120 people were injured as many areas were hit by record amounts of rainfall and violent winds, according to national broadcaster NHK. Officials urged residents to be on alert with evacuation orders remaining for about 5.9 million people across 17 prefectures, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.

The heavy rain destroyed river banks throughout Japan — most seriously the Chikuma River in Nagano prefecture, northwest of Tokyo. Houses were flooded in the area, with NHK showing footage of collapsed bridges and residents being rescued by helicopter from rooftops.

Typhoon Hagibis, the biggest storm to hit Japan in decades, had moved away from the island by Sunday morning. It has been downgraded to a tropical storm, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. At its peak, Hagibis was packing winds of up to 252 kilometers per hour.

More than 420,000 buildings across the country have lost electricity due to the typhoon, the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry said in a statement.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said a total of eight local governments, including Tokyo and Nagano, have requested assistance from the country’s Self-Defense Forces.

Cars are stranded on a road as the city is submerged in muddy waters after an embankment of the Chikuma River broke, in Nagano, central Japan. – Supplied

The government will send Ryota Takeda, chairman of the National Public Safety Commission, to Nagano prefecture and Land Minister Kazuyoshi Akaba to Saitama prefecture, Suga said.

Across Japan, more than 800 domestic flights had been cancelled for Sunday as of early morning, according to NHK.

The area around Tokyo worked to return to normal on Sunday morning.

A vehicle falls off collapsed road in the typhoon-hit Kakuda city, Miyagi prefecture, northern Japan. – AP

Heavy rain and flood warnings were lifted, and subways and most train services in the region resumed operations, NHK said. Bullet-train service heading west from the capital also was restored, according to Central Japan Railway.

Tokyo Disneyland planned to resume operations at noon after closing on Saturday.

Rugby World Cup organisers decided to go ahead with three out of four games scheduled for Sunday, including a closely watched contest between Japan and Scotland.

A collapsed railway bridge is seen over the Chikuma river swollen by Typhoon Hagibis in Ueda, Nagano prefecture, central Japan. – Supplied

The match between Canada and Namibia was called off amid safety concerns following torrential rains that caused flooding and landslides around the venue in northern Japan.

In addition to the Japan-Scotland game, matches pitting the US against Tonga and Wales versus Uruguay will proceed, organisers said.

Houses are seen in muddy waters in Sukagawa, Fukushima prefecture, as Typhoon Hagibis hits the area. -TAKUYA INABA

Source: https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/asia/116537317/typhoon-hagibis-japan-advises-eight-million-people-to-evacuate

The post Typhoon Hagibis: At least 10 dead, 16 missing first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Damaged caused by typhoon Hagibis in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo. Photograph: Jiji Press/EPA

Evacuation orders were issued to more than 800,000 households in Tokyo on Saturday as super-typhoon Hagibis threatened power cuts and widespread flooding.

Storm surges and high waves have raised sea levels by more than a meter along some stretches of the coast, and waters in Tokyo Bay are up by 50cm, increasing the danger of severe flooding in the city center.

On Saturday the Japan Meteorological Agency issued a level-five warning, its highest level, and urged more than 45 million residents of Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Gunma, Yamanashi and Nagano prefectures to find a secure building or move to higher floors.

The warning came as it was reported that nine people were missing after a landslide in Gunma and flooding in Shizuoka. More than 80 have been reported injured.

Authorities have said they are planning to release water from the Shiroyama dam, 50km west of Tokyo, to reduce the risk of it bursting. They have urged residents of six nearby towns to protect themselves as discharging water into an area already experiencing torrential rain is expected to cause severe flooding. About 17,000 military personnel have been placed on standby for rescue operations.

The giant storm, which is 1,400km across and capable of producing 200km-an-hour gusts of wind, is being compared to 1958’s typhoon Ida, which wrought destruction across the Greater Tokyo area and eastern Shizuoka prefecture, killing 1,200 people.

However, the death toll is unlikely to be anywhere near as high this time thanks to Japan’s stringent building safety standards and comprehensive disaster warning systems.

Emergency alerts accompanied by loud chimes are being sent directly to tens of millions of smartphone users in the affected areas.

By Saturday morning roofs had been ripped off houses in Chiba prefecture. This area, immediately east and south of Tokyo, is still recovering from last month’s typhoon Faxai, which killed three people, injured more than 40, and left hundreds of thousands of homes without power.

On Saturday a 50-year-old man was killed in Chiba when his car was flipped over by the storm, while another person died after being washed away in a car, public broadcaster NHK said.

“When the winds suddenly hit, they blew the roof off my house,” a resident told NHK. “The noise was awful. One of my three children was injured and is now in a hospital.”

Adding to the danger of landslides, an earthquake measuring four in Chiba on the Japanese seismic intensity scale, whose highest grading is seven, hit the Pacific Ocean at 6:22 pm local time on Saturday.

Up to 60cm of rain is expected to fall in some areas by Sunday morning. Tokyo Disney Resort shut down on Saturday for the first time since the earthquake and resulting deadly tsunami in 2011 that killed nearly 20,000 people, while all bullet trains and most flights in and out of the greater Tokyo area and its surrounding prefectures were canceled.

The Tokyo metropolitan government has opened an evacuation center in Tokyo’s Ueno district for foreign tourists stranded by the shutdown. Organizers canceled Saturday’s qualifying session for the Suzuka grand prix, although the race is expected to take place on Sunday afternoon.

The England v France World Cup Rugby game, due to having been played in Yokohama on 12 October, was canceled the previous day. A decision on Sunday’s match between Japan and Scotland was due following an inspection scheduled late on Saturday night.

Scotland, who will be eliminated from the World Cup if the match is canceled, want the game to be switched to Monday.

“Right from the get-go, we said we would play any place, anywhere, behind closed doors, in full stadiums,” said Scottish Rugby’s chief executive, Mark Dodson.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/12/japan-typhoon-hagibis-tokyo-earthquake-rugby-flood-rain

The post Typhoon Hagibis: Tokyo braced for battering as ‘worst storm in 60 years’ roars in first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The post Millions told to evacuate as Typhoon Hagibis hits east coast of Japan | ABC News first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.