Typhoon Hagibis leaves at least 19 dead as it devastates Japan

13 October 2019, 10:11

At least 19 people have been killed and more than a dozen are missing after a ferocious typhoon struck Japan.

Thousands of troops have been deployed, and helicopters and boats are assisting searches for missing people after Typhoon Hagibis struck.

14 rivers in Japan have flooded, leaving some homes completely submerged.

Typhoon Hagibis made landfall south of Tokyo and battered central and northern Japan with torrents of rain and powerful gusts of wind.

Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said: “The major typhoon has caused immense damage far and wide in eastern Japan.

He said 27,000 troops had been deployed.

News footage showed a rescue helicopter hovering in a flooded area in Nagano prefecture where an embankment of the Chikuma River broke, and streams of water were continuing to spread over residential areas.

The chopper plucked those stranded on the second floor of a home submerged in muddy waters.

A stretch of Fukushima, in the city of Date, was also flooded with only rooftops of residential homes visible in some areas, and rescuers paddled in boats to get people out. Parts of nearby Miyagi prefecture were also under water.

The Tama River, which runs by Tokyo, overflowed its banks, flooding homes and other buildings in the area.

Authorities warned of a risk of mudslides. Among the reported deaths were those whose homes were buried in landslides. Other fatalities included people who got swept away by raging rivers.

Mr Suga said recovery was on its way. Some 376,000 homes were without electricity, and 14,000 homes lacked running water, he said.

Boats as well as helicopters were sent to the flooded areas, while rescue crew dug through dirt elsewhere to try to get people out from homes buried by landslides.

Several train service in the Tokyo area resumed, although others were undergoing safety checks and were expected to restart later on Sunday.

Ruling party politician Fumio Kishida said the government will do its utmost in rescue operations, including making sure that those who moved to shelters were taken care of.

He acknowledged Japan's power grids need to be strengthened so people in disaster areas can rely on timely information.

"So many risks remain, and it is a reality we must stay on guard," Mr Kishida said on an NHK TV news talk show. "We must do our utmost. In these times, a disaster can hit anytime."

The authorities had repeatedly warned Hagibis was on par with a typhoon that hit the Tokyo region in 1958.

But the safety infrastructure that Japan's modernisation had brought was apparent. The typhoon six decades ago had left more than 1,200 people dead and half a million houses flooded.