Powerful Storm Hits Disaster-Ravaged Japan

A powerful storm slammed into central Japan on Sunday, bringing heavy rains as it churned across western areas already devastated by floods and landslides.

Typhoon Jongdari, packing winds of up to 180 kilometers an hour, made landfall at Ise in the Mie prefecture at around 1 a.m. (1600 GMT Saturday), according to the nation’s meteorological agency, AFP reported.

It weakened after making landfall and was downgraded to a tropical storm, according to the agency, but many provinces stayed on alert.

“We have been on the emergency alert the whole time since the rain disaster” in early July, said Koji Kunitomi, a crisis management official at western Japan’s Okayama prefecture, referring to deadly rains earlier this month. “Fortunately, so far, we haven’t seen new flooding,” he told AFP.

The storm, after unleashing torrential rain over eastern Japan, was moving further west mid-day Sunday, and authorities in western Japan urged tens of thousands of residents to evacuate before the rain intensifies.

At least 19 people were injured across six prefectures, public broadcaster NHK said.