Sept. 9 (UPI) — A powerful typhoon battered Japan’s capital of Tokyo on Monday, halting trains, canceling flights and cutting power to almost a million homes.
Typhoon Faxai, with winds of up to 130 mph, made landfall before dawn in Chiba, east of Tokyo, on Monday, after forecasters had warned that the storm could break wind-speed records for the region. Nearly 340,000 people in Tokyo were under evacuation advisories, while some 2,000 people in Chiba were subjected to mandatory evacuation orders when the storm hit, Japan Today reported.
At least one woman in her 50s was killed in the storm after she was blown into a wall in Tokyo, while 40 others were injured in the four prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa, Ibaraki and Shizuoka.
The storm knocked out power to more than 900,000 homes, Japan’s NHK reported. At one point, all of Shikinejima Island was under a total blackout, according to the Tokyo Disaster Prevention Department.
Meanwhile, the typhoon caused commuter turmoil, forcing traffic, trains and subways to a standstill.
The East Japan Railway Company said it had suspended trains to metropolitan Tokyo, though some services had resumed while others would begin running again “in sequence of the sections in which safety has been assured.”
The Central Japan Railway Company said it had suspended some bullet train services, which have since resumed operation, while others were experiencing delays.
At Haneda Airport, more than 100 flights were canceled. The airport said to contact airline companies as “some flights and ground transportation agencies have been affected.”
The 15th typhoon to hit Japan this year was forecast to continue moving northeast away from the archipelago nation throughout the day, the Japan Meteorological Agency reported.
Faxai’s landfall occurred after South Korea was pummeled by Typhoon Lingling, which brought torrents of rain and strong winds to the peninsula over the weekend.
