Four people died and at least six remained missing after Typhoon Dujuan dumped record rainfall across eastern Japan, triggering flooding, landslides, and widespread disruption to power and transport.
The latest deaths and disappearances were reported in Kanagawa and Chiba prefectures, where emergency crews continued searching areas hit by landslides on Tuesday morning.
In Kanagawa, police and firefighters were conducting rescue operations on Miura peninsula after landslides struck residential areas on Monday, according to NHK.
In the coastal city of Yokosuka on Miura, a 64-year-old woman was found dead inside her home after mud and debris swept into the ground floor of the two-storey structure. Nearby, a couple in their 70s disappeared after a landslide struck their home.
Two people were also reported missing in the neighbouring city of Miura. A woman in her 20s was unaccounted for after debris struck the first floor of an apartment building, while another woman disappeared after a landslide damaged the building where she lived.
A 51-year-old worker died while clearing mud and debris from a road in Chiba prefecture’s Sodegaura. The heavy machinery he was operating fell into a bamboo grove near the site of a landslide, with police investigating the circumstances, according to The Japan Times.
The Japan Meteorological Agency had issued its highest-level landslide warning on Monday for several areas of the Izu Islands, including Oshima, as heavy rainfall overwhelmed the region.
Oshima saw 832mm of rain in the 48 hours to 1.30am Tuesday, the highest on record. Rinkai in Tokyo’s Edogawa Ward received 325mm over 48 hours. Kimitsu in Chiba got an unprecedented 476.5mm over 48 hours, while Ichihara recorded 487mm.
The weather agency warned that the danger would continue even after Dujuan moved over the Pacific, because saturated ground could trigger further landslides and swollen rivers could overflow.
Authorities issued evacuation advisories for more than 1.6 million people as the typhoon disrupted life across the region.
As of 9.45am on Tuesday, nearly 48,320 households across Chiba, Kanagawa, Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures had lost electricity, according to the Tokyo Electric Power Grid.
The severe weather disrupted rail services, including sections of East Japan Railway’s Sobu, Narita and Sotobo lines as well as some bullet train services between Tokyo and Osaka, and led to the cancellation of hundreds of flights. Japan Airlines cancelled roughly 135 flights on Monday and All Nippon Airways 140.
In areas under alert, “there’s a risk the rain will continue as the typhoon moves north”, the weather agency’s Takuya Hosomi said. The agency had earlier warned that “the total rainfall through Tuesday could exceed the average monthly rainfall for September, resulting in record-breaking heavy rain”.
By Tuesday morning, Dujuan had shifted away from Japan and was moving northeast over the Pacific at about 50km per hour. Conditions were expected to improve across much of the Kanto region, although the agency warned of continued risks from flooding, landslides, high waves, and strong winds.
