On Friday, Typhoon Shanshan unleashed torrential rain on a vast section of Japan causing potential threats of flooding and landslides even many miles away from the storm’s core. This led to major disruptions in public transportation and the closure of important manufacturing units.
The storm, believed by officials to be one of the most catastrophic in the Kyushu region in the southwest of the country, hit land on Thursday. Fukuoka city’s inhabitants are currently hunkering down, with the area being eerie and businesses closed.
Twenty-one-year-old university student, Kokoro Osoegawa found herself stranded at an entryway of a deserted mall near the city’s railway station as she attempted to journey home.
“My parents have set off to fetch me as all trains have been grounded due to the typhoon. I came here after staying over at a friend’s place thinking I could take a train, but I found none operating,” she explained, adding that she’d never before witnessed all trains being halted.
Reportedly, the storm had already claimed 3 lives and injured 78 people, as confirmed by the catastrophe management agency.
The typhoon, characterised by gusts as powerful as 50m per second (180km/h) strong enough to overturn moving trucks, was observed near the coastal city of Kunisaki in Oita Prefecture at 8:45am (11:45 PM local time) moving northeast. Power supply was interrupted in about 125,000 homes in seven prefectures located in Kyushu, wasn’ted Kyushu Electric Power Co.
However, the storm has also led to intensifying rain in places far distant from the main mass owing to the warm and humid air enveloping the typhoon, which additionaly has been moving more slowly than anticipated.
Evacuation notices have been disseminated to over 4 million inhabitants nationwide, predominantly in the severely affected Kyushu region, but extending to far-off areas like capital Tokyo and adjacent Yokohama, where authorities warned about landslide threats following the heavy downpour.
Yet, as pointed out by disaster management minister Yoshifumi Matsumura on Thursday, only about 30,000 people had relocated, mostly from Kyushu.
The weather agency anticipates that after shifting from Kyushu, the storm will likely make its way to the central and eastern areas, including Tokyo, around the weekend. In response to the threatening weather, Toyota halted operations across all its local factories. Other car manufacturers like Nissan and Honda, alongside semiconductor companies Renesas and Tokyo Electron, and electronics behemoth Sony, also temporarily ceased production in some of their facilities.
A myriad of air carriers such as ANA Holdings and Japan Airlines have publicised the cancellation of numerous domestic and a few international flights. An array of ferry and railway transportations, incorporating the high-speed train route between Tokyo and central city Nagoya, were brought to a standstill on Friday morning.
Lin Yue-Hua, a Taiwanese tourist of 60 years, had her homeward trip from Fukuoka abruptly cancelled last Thursday. She was advised to schedule a substitute flight but lacked knowledge on her potential return date. Lin and her group were struck by anxiety and confusion, not knowing their next steps. After staying an extra day in Japan, they discovered on the news that their flight from Taiwan, after hovering around the Japanese region for over 40 minutes, retreated back to Taiwan. Their priority now is to figure out another way to return home.
The present harsh weather conditions are due to Typhoon Shanshan, the most recent climatic disturbance to strike Japan. It follows after Typhoon Ampil earlier this month, which also caused power outages and necessitated evacuations. This piece of information was reported by Reuters, with the copyright in the possession of Thomson Reuters 2024.