TOKYO: More than one million people were under evacuation advisories in Japan early Tuesday (Sept 22) and hundreds of flights have been cancelled as Typhoon Dujuan brushed past Tokyo, bringing torrential rains, flooding and landslides to the region.
Two people have been confirmed dead as heavy rainfall triggered landslides in Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures near Tokyo, local governments reported according to Japanese media including the Kyodo news agency.
Japan often sees strong typhoons in the late summer and early autumn, and other storms have already disrupted some events at the Asian Games being hosted in the country.
Dujuan was bringing winds of some 144 kilometres per hour Monday as it moved to around 130 kilometres south of Katsuura City near Tokyo.
By early Tuesday the storm had shifted away from the coast and was heading north-east out to sea, with slightly diminished winds, the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.
Japan Airlines cancelled 135 flights and All Nippon Airways scrapped 140, while more than 9,000 households near Tokyo were without power.
More than 1.6 million residents in and around the capital were urged to evacuate Monday, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. The evacuations are not mandatory.
Landslide warnings were issued for Tokyo as well as for Chiba, Kanagawa and Shizuoka prefectures. Railway operators in Tokyo and neighbouring regions suspended services on some lines.
In areas where warnings have been issued, "there's a risk the rain will continue as the typhoon moves north", the JMA's Takuya Hosomi told reporters.
The JMA warned on Sunday that rain and winds were expected to intensify even before the typhoon's arrival.
"The total rainfall through Tuesday could exceed the average monthly rainfall for September, resulting in record-breaking heavy rain," the agency said.
Dujuan forced the early closure of the Tokyo Game Show, one of the world's biggest video-game trade fairs, on Monday, its final day.
A major outdoor music festival and a baseball match both scheduled to be held in Chiba were also cancelled.
Social media posts showed images of roads in front of Kamakura station, a popular sightseeing spot, were flooded.
"There is flooding in various parts of the city, so travelling by car is dangerous," Kamakura City Mayor Takashi Matsuo said on X.
Flooding also inundated parts of Ichikawa city east of Tokyo. - AFP
