Japan Hit by Strongest Typhoon in 25 Years, Prompting Evacuations
By Motoko Rich
TOKYO — With wind speeds of up to 130 miles per hour, Typhoon Jebi, the strongest storm to hit Japan in 25 years, made landfall on a southeastern island early Tuesday afternoon, leading to calls for mass evacuations, snarling air transport and causing an oil tanker to crash into a bridge.
The storm prompted government officials to order more than 16,000 people in nine cities to evacuate, with an additional 1.2 million people advised to evacuate in 10 prefectures in southern Japan, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.
As a result of Tuesday’s storm, close to 800 flights were canceled and several rail lines, including bullet train services, were suspended. Kansai International Airport near Osaka was closed because of severe flooding.
At least three people were killed, two in Osaka Prefecture and one in Shiga Prefecture, according to NHK, the public broadcaster.
Early in the afternoon on Tuesday, an oil tanker unmoored by the storm crashed into a bridge that connects Kansai Airport in Osaka Bay to the mainland. There were no reported injuries.
The typhoon hit during a summer of meteorological misery for Japan, with lethal floods and landslides hitting western Japan in July, killing more than 200 people, and deadly heat waves claiming more than 130 lives that month.
Evacuation orders in Japan are not mandatory, but the failure of people to heed such orders during the July rains was seen as a contributing factor to the high number of deaths.
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