Typhoon kills three, heads out to Pacific

A missing man was found dead Sunday, bringing the death toll from Typhoon Man-yi to three as the storm passed south of Tokyo and moved out over the Pacific Ocean.

A landslide caused by Typhoon Man-yi flattened these houses Sunday. KYODO PHOTO

The 79-year-old man who went missing the night before was discovered in a river in Yoshinogawa, Tokushima Prefecture, police and rescue workers said.

Two other people died in Kagoshima Prefecture as the fourth typhoon of the season made landfall Saturday in Kyushu, with an 11-year-old boy being washed away by a river and a 76-year-old man falling into an irrigation ditch.

The typhoon left a man missing in Nagoya and more than 70 people injured in central and western Japan.

More than 40,000 people had been told to evacuate in Japan as of midday Sunday as forecasters warned of continued heavy rains, high waves and strong winds. The evacuation advisories were lifted by 4 p.m.

In the Tokai region, five people were injured as of the afternoon due to strong winds. In Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture, a 78-year-old man fell off from a ladder and broke two bones. In Tsushima, Aichi Prefecture, a 77-year-old man fell and broke a finger while a 77-year-old woman in Arai, Shizuoka Prefecture, stumbled and injured her hip.

Man-yi affected air traffic across an extended area.

A total of 274 flights were canceled Sunday, with All Nippon Airways grounding 129 flights and Japan Airlines holding back 110.

Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) shut down the Tokaido Shinkansen Line between Tokyo and Nagoya at around 8:30 a.m. due to heavy rain in Shizuoka Prefecture. The typhoon also affected local trains.

JR Tokai resumed bullet train operations at around 12:40 p.m.

A total of five bullet trains on the line were stalled between stations for up to five hours after one got stuck on a bridge over the rain-swollen Fuji River, according to JR Tokai.

The Akita Shinkansen Line was temporarily forced to run at reduced speeds between Akabuchi, Iwate Prefecture, and Tazawako, Akita Prefecture, delaying three trains for up to 38 minutes and affecting about 600 passengers.

In the Kanto region, express trains bound for the Izu area in Shizuoka Prefecture and Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, were canceled.

In Tokyo, a train on the JR Oume Line stopped at 8:30 a.m. after two trees fell on the tracks between Kori and Kawai stations due to strong winds, East Japan Railway Co. said.

The train resumed running at 8:50 a.m., but 28 runs between Oume and Okutama stations were canceled through 3:20 p.m. while the trees were removed, affecting about 3,700 people, it said.

Lanes on the Tomei Expressway between the Shimizu and Fuji interchanges, both in Shizuoka Prefecture, heading from Nagoya toward Tokyo were reopened at around 4:20 p.m. after being closed for eight hours. The lanes heading from Tokyo toward Nagoya were reopened at 8 p.m., 14 hours and 30 minutes after they were shut down, according to police.

Man-yi skirted along the southern coast of Honshu on Sunday, moving east and carrying windstorms along with it, the Meteorological Agency said.

As of 6 p.m., the typhoon was moving east some 180 km southeast of Choshi, Chiba Prefecture, at a speed of about 55 kph. It had an atmospheric pressure of 980 hectopascals.

Man-yi was expected to blow out into the waters east of the Kanto area by nightfall.

As of early Sunday, record-high hourly rainfall had been marked for the month of July in the Chiba Prefecture areas of Mobara with 58 mm, Yokoshibahikari with 52 mm and Tonosho with 49 mm. Kashima, Ibaraki Prefecture, had 37 mm.