The 20th typhoon of the season made landfall in southern Tokushima Prefecture on Thursday night, bringing downpours to western Japan — already reeling from last month’s deadly flooding and landslides.
The Meteorological Agency warned of gusts, high waves and heavy rain as Typhoon Cimaron appeared ready to slice through the Japanese archipelago en route to the Sea of Japan by early Friday.
According to Kansai Electric Power Co., about 26,590 houses in Mie, Shiga, Kyoto, Nara and Wakayama Prefectures experienced power cuts caused by the typhoon. Power supplies to all of those homes were said to have been restored by 9 p.m.
On Thursday, more than 350 flights were canceled at airports in western Japan. At 6 p.m., Shikoku Railway Co., better known as JR Shikoku, halted operations of all railway services.
The typhoon was expected to travel across Hyogo Prefecture to the Sea of Japan by early Friday. On Saturday, it will turn into an extratropical cyclone and approach Hokkaido.
The storm is already suspected to have led to the disappearance of three Shizuoka University students — Eina Goto, 19, Yoshifumi Matsudo, 19, and Toshikazu Matsumura, 20 — who vanished Thursday from a beach in the city of Shizuoka. Police and firefighters fear they were swept away by high waves caused by the typhoon.
Source: Kyodo and Japan Times
