Deadly storm Phanfone batters Japan

A typhoon lashed Japan with torrential rain after killing at least one person, forcing the cancellation of flights and prompting warnings to more than 200,000 people to evacuate their homes. Reuters writes:

Three U.S. servicemen were swept away by high waves lashing the southwestern island of Okinawa on Sunday as Typhoon Phanfone approached. One was found dead and two were missing. A surfer was swept out to sea.

The storm brushed past the capital, Tokyo, and by early afternoon was out over the Pacific, leaving behind skies clear enough that Mount Fuji was clearly visible to the southwest.

Heavy rains had forced the cancellation of a search for victims of Mount Ontake, with 12 people still missing after an eruption last week killed at least 51.

A score of households in the foothills of the peak were evacuated out of concerns that heavy rains could cause mudslides as ash was washed downstream. Tropical Storm Risk, which tracks cyclones, labeled Phanfone a category one typhoon, the lowest rung on a scale of one to five, and said it was likely to weaken to a tropical storm later on Monday. It was category four as it approached.

Typhoon Phanfone prompted evacuation advisories for thousands of Tokyo residents as it disrupted travel and shuttered factories nationwide. Bloomberg News reports:

The nation’s weather agency warned of storm surges and landslides for coastal areas from the central prefecture of Aichi to Ibaraki, north of Tokyo. Phanfone was centered near the Japanese capital at 11:45 a.m., according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

The storm had sustained winds of 126 kilometers (78 miles) per hour, equal to a Category 1 hurricane, the weakest on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale. Phanfone yesterday washed three airmen out to sea at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan’s southernmost prefecture, according to a statement on the base’s website.

Tokyo city officials urged residents of 22,900 households in central Minato ward to flee their homes for public shelters due to heightened landslide risk, spokesman Subaru Kitanozawa said by phone. Another 23,000 households in Machida, west of Tokyo, were told to evacuate, according to the city’s website.