Tokyo: A large storm was heading off Japan's northeast coast early Tuesday, leaving one person dead, two missing and 93 injured even as it weakened sharply from what had been the strongest typhoon to hit Japan this year.
Vongfong, downgraded to a tropical storm, was moving northeast at 65 km per hour (40 miles per hour), heading off the coast of the Tohoku region devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. The storm had maximum sustained winds 110 kph (70 mph) and gusts up to 145 kph (90 mph), the agency said on its website.
After the storm passed through western Japan, a 90-year-old man in Tottori prefecture was found dead in a field irrigation ditch, while one person each was missing in Ehime and Shizuoka prefectures, public broadcaster NHK said.
Vongfong brought heavy rain to Tokyo through the night and snarled traffic for much of the nation on the last day of a three-day holiday weekend. More than 600 flights were cancelled nationwide on Monday and more than 60 cancellations were expected on Tuesday, NHK said.
In Tokyo on Tuesday morning the sun had returned and commuter train service was largely returning to normal. More than 800,000 people nationwide had been urged to leave their homes, while more than 150,000 homes lost power, NHK said.
Tokyo Electric Power Co, the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, said on Monday it had increased water transfer and storage capacity to prevent an overflow of radioactive water being stored at the plant.
A Monday baseball playoff game in Osaka for Japan's Pacific League, between the Orix Buffaloes and the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, was postponed. It was the first time a Nippon Professional Baseball playoff game was cancelled because of a typhoon.
