18 dead after typhoon hits Japan
TOKYO, Japan -- At least 18 people have been killed in Japan after tropical storm Meari buffeted the nation, with a dozen missing and 70 others wounded.
Meari has cut a wide swath through Japan over the past few days, causing floods, flipping cars, triggering deadly landslides that have destroyed dozens of homes, with about 10,000 people fleeing to shelters.
The typhoon made landfall on the southernmost main island of Kyushu on Wednesday before moving northeast over large parts of the country including Tokyo, with winds up to 108 km (67 miles) per hour.
In Mie prefecture in western Japan, soldiers up to their ankles in mud were digging through debris in search of survivors feared trapped under mud and the rubble of their own houses, Reuters news agency reported.
"The prospects are not very good. I've never seen anything like this in my time here," a government spokesman told Reuters.
An aerial picture showed how a landslide cut a brown swath through the trees, with houses buried in mud at the bottom of the hill.
Flights, train and ferry services were also disrupted by the record eighth typhoon to hit Japan this year, exceeding the past record of six in 1990, leaving thousands of travelers stranded.
At midday Thursday, the storm -- downgraded from typhoon status after blowing through southern Okinawa -- was pounding northern Japan with strong gusts and rain, the Meteorological Agency said.
The agency said the storm was slowing and losing steam as it headed east toward the Pacific Ocean, but warned of up to 4 inches of rain and landslides.
Troops, firefighters and forest rangers working through the night recovered the body of a 68-year-old man early Thursday in Miyagawa, about 210 miles southwest of Tokyo, Mie prefecture police told The Associated Press. A 34-year-old man was later found nearby.
Four others were found dead in Niihama, located in Ehime prefecture about 425 miles southwest of the capital, after being reported missing the day before, public broadcaster NHK and Kyodo News agency said.
NHK also said three additional people were killed by the storm: two unidentified people who fell into a river and drowned, and a woman in Ehime prefecture who normally uses a wheelchair and whose house was flooded.
The nine new deaths brought Wednesday night's death toll of five up to 14 on Thursday, authorities said.
With the help of heavy-duty mechanical shovels, workers continued their search for 12 still unaccounted for Thursday, after temporarily suspending their operations due to fears of more landslides.
NHK said 70 had been injured.
Power had been restored to all but about 5,000 of the nearly 90,000 homes that had lost power in southern and western Japan, utility officials said.
On Sunday, the storm swiped Okinawa, about 1,000 miles southwest of Tokyo, where an 88-year-old man died after being blown over by strong winds. Two others in Okinawa also struck down by winds had broken bones.
Meari means echo in Korean.
Earlier this month, Typhoon Songda killed at least 32 people and injured more than 900 as it traveled along Japan's western coast.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
