Four members of the same family are missing in Japan after a landslide triggered by torrential rains as a powerful typhoon approaches the archipelago, local authorities said today.
“The landslide hit a house where five family members lived — a couple in their seventies, two women in their forties and a man in his thirties,” an official in Gamagori town, in the central part of the archipelago, near the Pacific coast, told AFP.
Four missing, one rescued
One of the family members was “rescued last night on Tuesday, but searches to locate the other four continued throughout the night,” he added.
The rains that hit central areas of Japan are due to typhoon Sanshancurrently located approximately 80 km northeast of Amami Island (south), with wind gusts of up to 252 km per hour.
Maximum alert status
“It is necessary to be on maximum alert,” a Japan Meteorological Agency official said during a press conference, referring in particular to southern areas of the country.
Flight cancellation
Airlines have already canceled hundreds of flights, while some Shinkansen, Japan’s high-speed rail lines, could be suspended within the week, depending on the typhoon’s track, according to the operating company.
Japan Airlines canceled 110 domestic flights and 6 international flights today, while ANA, another Japanese carrier, canceled 112 domestic flights scheduled for today through Friday.
The track of Typhoon Sanshan
Typhoon Sansan is expected to head toward Kyushu, Japan’s second-largest island, then Honshu, its largest, by the end of the week.
In the middle of the month, Typhoon Abil caused the cancellation of dozens of train routes and more than 650 domestic and international flights, causing no injuries or serious property damage as it passed off the Tokyo metropolitan area in the Pacific Ocean.
Hurricanes and climate change
Hurricanes in the region are now forming closer to shore than before, strengthening much faster and staying over land longer because of climate change, a study released last month suggested.
Source: APE – MEB
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