Nine people found dead in elderly care home as typhoon Lionrock hits Japan

Nine people were found dead in a care home for the elderly in the northwest Japanese prefecture of Iwate, which was affected by torrential rains in the wake of the powerful typhoon Lionrock that hit the region Tuesday, local authorities said Wednesday.

The police found the bodies of the victims in the care home located near a river in Iwaizumi - some 600 kilometers (372 miles) north of Tokyo - where the typhoon made landfall Tuesday evening, news agency Kyodo reported.
  
    

Lionrock, this year's tenth typhoon in the Pacific, moved away from Japan on Wednesday and is now a tropical storm after leaving behind winds of up to 216 kph (134 mph) and intense rainfall that caused severe flooding due to overflowing rivers.

Iwaizumi was one of the worst-affected towns in the heavy rainfall that caused flooding in the town's urban area and resulted in the death of another man.

In the neighboring city of Kuji, near Iwaizumi, which was practically waterlogged due to two overflowing rivers, the police found the body of another elderly woman.

Although rain has subsided in the region for the time being, rising water levels in rivers has prompted the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) to issue a flood warning.

In addition to causing floods in the northwestern part of Honshu, Japan's main island, Lionrock has also affected the northern Hokkaido island, where three people are missing.

In Hokkaido alone, 300 millimeters of rainfall has been recorded since Aug. 29, more than the forecast for the entire month of August, according to JMA.

Meanwhile, the transport ministry clocked record rainfall of 500 millimeters in the town of Minamifurano, which led two rivers to overflow and flood the urban center.

Several people remain trapped in their homes, as well as in shelters and other buildings, NHK reported.

Lionrock is the third typhoon to hit the Asian archipelago in a little more than a week and the first to make landfall in the country's main island through its northeastern coast since the beginning of the 20th century, when authorities started compiling such data.
 EFE/EPA
 31/8/16
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•  11 dead, 3 missing in northern Japan following powerful typhoon ...

Eleven people have been killed and three remained unaccounted for after Typhoon Lionrock lashed Japan's north and northeast regions a day earlier, local media reported on Wednesday.

Of the victims, nine bodies been recovered in the northeast of the country, with the deceased being found near a nursing home in the town of Iwaizumi, in Iwate Prefecture, according to the local police.

A body of a man has also been found near a river in the same town, and that of a woman in the city of Kuji in the prefecture was discovered among rubble left in the storm's wake.

Local police officers said the bodies of nine elderly people were found near a group care facility called Ranran, with public broadcaster NHK reporting that emergency calls were received following another facility in the Ranran complex being flooded as a result of the typhoon.

According to the land ministry, the Omotogawa River, close to the facility, burst its banks following torrential rain on Tuesday night. The bodies were found on the banks of the river, local media reported.

As many as 80 people had also been airlifted to safety from a facility near to the care home, local reports said, although they were not believed to be in a serious condition.

Wide swathes inland remained flooded Wednesday, meanwhile, in Japan's north, the weather agency said, as parts of Iwate and the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido saw rainfall reach more than 300 mm since Monday, surpassing the peak for the average seen in a single month in August.

The town of Minamifurano in Hokkaido logged 500 mm of precipitation, the weather agency said, marking a new record for the region, and 350 people were stranded in the town after a levee collapsed as a result of the storm.

Three people remained missing in the wake of the typhoon, which caused the issuance of more than 400,000 evacuation advisories in the Tohoku area, with one of the missing believed to be driving his car when it plunged into a river. Ten people have been injured across four prefectures in the north, according to the latest reports, with local officials believing the number will likely rise.

The typhoon disrupted major transportation networks as of Tuesday night, with more than 100 flights scheduled to and from airports in Tohoku and Hokkaido cancelled, as well as ferry services in the east and northeast regions of the country.

The typhoon was downgraded to a tropical storm as it made its way out to the Sea of Japan on Tuesday evening, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.

Lionrock was the 10th typhoon of the season and the first one since record keeping began to make landfall from the Pacific in the Tohoku region.

The JMA has issued alerts for people in the affected areas for more rivers bursting their banks, flooding, high waves and mudslides, and has also warned of the possibility of lightning strikes and tornados due to continued unable atmospheric conditions in the region.
 Japannews.com
31/8/16
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