Millions evacuated as typhoon slams Japan's Kyushu, halting flights and factories (updated)

Renesas Electronics

29/08/2024 09:04

(RPT of story published August 29, 20243:31 PM GMT+8)
    By Satoshi Sugiyama, Kiyoshi Takenaka
       TOKYO, Aug 29 (Reuters) - 
    Millions of people were told to evacuate from their homes as
Typhoon Shanshan lashed southwest Japan with strong winds and
heavy rain on Thursday, knocking out power, snarling air traffic
and forcing major factories to close.
At least three people have been killed so far and scores injured
in what authorities have warned could be one of the strongest
ever storms to hit the region.
Major automaker Toyota  7203.T  suspended operations in all of
its domestic plants due to the storm, while Nissan  7201.T ,
Honda  7267.T  and chipmakers Renesas  6723.T  and Tokyo
Electron  8035.T  also temporarily halted production at some
factories.
Funeral parlour employee Tomoki Maeda was in a hearse when the
typhoon struck in Miyazaki city in southern Kyushu, shattering
windows and tearing down walls of some buildings.
    "I've never experienced such a strong wind or tornado in my
31 years of life," Maeda told Reuters. 
     The typhoon, with gusts of up to 50 metres per second (180
km per hour/112 mph), was near Unzen city in Nagasaki Prefecture
at 1:45 p.m. (0445 GMT), moving north at about 15 km per hour,
according to the weather agency. 
  
    Around 230,000 households in seven prefectures were without
power in the afternoon, according to Kyushu Electric Power Co.
The utility earlier said there as no impact at its Sendai
Nuclear Power Plant in Satsumasendai city, where the storm made
landfall earlier on Thursday. 
     Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a news
conference that three people had died and one was missing in
incidents related to the typhoon, while the disaster management
agency said 45 had suffered injuries. 
  
    After hovering over Kyushu for the next few days, the storm
is expected to approach the central and eastern regions,
including the capital Tokyo, around the weekend, the weather
agency said.
More than 5.2 million people have been issued evacuation notices
across the country, authorities said.
     Madoka Kubo, who runs a hotel in historic city of Hitoyoshi
in Kumamoto prefecture, told Reuters that all reservations had
been cancelled and her hotel was now being used to house elderly
people who had been evacuated from nearby areas.
  
Airlines, including ANA Holdings  9202.T  and Japan Airlines
 9201.T , have already announced cancellations of nearly 800
flights. Train services have been suspended in many areas of
Kyushu while hundreds of bus and ferry services have also been
halted, according to the transport ministry.
    Typhoon Shanshan is the latest harsh weather system to hit
Japan, following Typhoon Ampil, which also led to blackouts and
evacuations, earlier this month.

(Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama, Sam Nussey, Yuka Obayashi, Maki
Shiraki, Rocky Swift, Kantaro Komiya, Mahezabin Syed and John
Geddie; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Raju
Gopalakrishnan)
((mailto:Satoshi.Sugiyama@thomsonreuters.com;))