11 Dead 600 Injured as powerful storm hits Japan| Jeremy Spell Blog

At least eleven people have been killed and
about 600 injured after Typhoon Jebi
ripped through Japan, the most powerful
storm to hit the country in 25 years, local
media reported on Wednesday.
Of the 11 deaths, eight people died in the
western prefecture of Osaka, including four
men, who fell from upstairs or the roofs of
their houses after apparently being hit by
strong winds, broadcaster NHK reported.
Three others died after they were hit by
flying objects, the report said.
About 3,000 people spent the night at
Kansai International Airport after a tanker
hit the bridge connecting the offshore
airport and the city of Izumisano, NHK said.
The ship was damaged, but its 11 crew
members were not injured.
Authorities began taking some of those
stranded to nearby Kobe Airport, which is
also located on an artificial island, by ferry
early Wednesday, while others were taken
to the mainland by bus.
The ship, which had been anchored in
Osaka Bay, was swept towards the bridge
as the storm lashed Osaka.
The airport remained closed on Wednesday,
leading to the cancellation of 162 flights,
and it is still unknown when it will be back
to normal operation, Kyodo News said.
One of its runways and the basement floor
of a terminal building were flooded.
About half a million households in Osaka
and five nearby prefectures remained
without power, as of 11 am (0200 GMT),
according to Kansai Electric Power.
The season’s 21st typhoon was
downgraded to an extra-tropical cyclone
over the Tatar Strait near Russia at around
9 am, the Meteorological Agency said, after
dumping torrential rains on the northern
island of Hokkaido overnight, toppling trees
and utility poles.
Jebi made landfall around the southern part
of Tokushima prefecture shortly after
Tuesday noon, according to the agency.
Jebi was the latest in a series of weather-
related disasters to hit the country in recent
months.
In early July, torrential rains pummelled
western Japan, triggering landslides and
floods that left 226 people dead and 10
missing.
It was the country’s deadliest weather-
related disaster in more than three decades.
An intense heatwave that enveloped the
country immediately afterwards killed more
than 130 people, as temperatures soared
above 40 degrees Celsius in some places.