TOKYO, Japan - Rescuers worked by hand to clear debris from a landslide triggered by heavy rains in central Japan on Saturday, as the toll from the storms rose to 10 dead with a further three people reportedly missing.
Aerial footage showed emergency workers removing wreckage from two houses that were swept away in Chiba, southeast of Tokyo, just two weeks after a deadly typhoon barrelled through the area.
Nine people were killed by landslides and floods in the region, including two elderly men found dead in submerged cars, officials and news reports said.
A woman in her 40s was found dead near the coast in eastern Fukushima, according to a fire department official.
Police divers were deployed to search for those unaccounted for, with public broadcaster NHK putting the number of missing at three.
Thousands of people were forced to spend the night in Narita airport after train services were suspended, it added.
"Water was flowing in my garden like a river," a 75-year-old man told NHK. "Rain was heavier than during the typhoon."
Two weeks ago, Typhoon Hagibis slammed into the east coast of Japan, killing more than 80 people. Many river banks and levees that were breached during Hagibis have yet to be repaired.
The rescue effort received some relief when the Japan Meteorological Agency downgraded warnings of landslides and floods as rains eased on Saturday morning in many regions.
Non-mandatory evacuation orders were also lifted in many areas, although 1,800 people were still in shelters, NHK reported.
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TOKYO - Rescuers in Japan worked into a third day on Tuesday in an increasingly desperate search for survivors of a powerful typhoon that killed nearly 70 people and caused widespread destruction.
Hagibis slammed into Japan on Saturday night, unleashing fierce winds and "unprecedented" rain that triggered landslides and caused dozens of rivers to burst their banks.
By Tuesday morning, national broadcaster NHK put the toll at nearly 70, with more than a dozen missing. The government's confirmed death toll was lower, but it said it was still updating its information.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said there was no plan to slow rescue operations, with around 110,000 police, coast guard, firefighters and military troops involved.
"Currently in damaged areas rescue work and searches for the missing are continuing around the clock," Abe told parliament.
"Where rivers flooded, work is ongoing to fix spots where banks broke, and water is being pumped out where floods occurred," he added.
The prime minister's office said more than 3,000 people have been rescued in the wake of the disaster, which affected 36 of the country's 47 prefectures.
RAIN PROMPTS NEW WARNINGS
Government officials warned that more rain was expected throughout the day Tuesday in several parts of the country affected by the typhoon.
"Because of the heavy rain so far, water levels at rivers have risen and ground has softened in some places," said chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga.
"We ask people not to drop their guard and to remain fully alert," he told reporters.
Hagibis crashed into land packing gusts up to 216 kilometers (134 miles) per hour, but it was the storm's heavy rain that caused the most damage.
At least 176 rivers burst their banks, including in central Nagano, where a levee breach sent water from the Chikuma river gushing into residential neighborhoods and submerging bullet trains in a depot up to their windows.
Deaths were reported across many prefectures and included a man whose apartment was flooded, a municipal worker whose car was caught in rising waters and at least seven crew aboard a cargo ship that sank in Tokyo bay on Saturday night.
By Tuesday morning, some 34,000 households were still without power, and 133,000 homes had no water.
Tens of thousands of people spent Monday night in government shelters, with many unsure when they would be able to return home.
GOVERNMENT PLEDGES AID
The government pledged to offer financial support to affected regions, without specifying how much aid it would set aside.
"Support for the victims of the disaster is an urgent task," Abe said.
"There are concerns that the impact on daily life and economic activities may be long-lasting."
Among the areas affected by the storm was the Fukushima region, where several bags containing soil and plants collected during nuclear decontamination efforts were washed away.
"Ten bags out of 2,667 were swept into a river during the typhoon, but six of them were recovered yesterday," environment ministry official Keisuke Takagi told AFP, adding that the remaining four bags had been found and would be collected soon.
"Residents must be worried about the environment, but there are no reports that the bags were broken, so there will be nothing to worry about once they have been recovered safely," he said.
Hagibis caused transport chaos over a holiday weekend in Japan, grounding flights and halting train services.
By Tuesday, things were largely back to normal, though some flights remained cancelled and train services were partially disrupted where tracks or train stock were damaged by the storm.
The typhoon also caused disruption to sporting events, delaying Japanese Grand Prix qualifiers and forcing Rugby World Cup organizers to cancel three matches.
A crunch fixture pitting the hosts against Scotland went ahead on Sunday night, with Japan winning its first ever quarter finals spot.
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The death toll from Typhoon Hagibis rose to 55 on Monday as search-and-rescue teams continued to operate in areas hit by flooding and landslides in central and eastern Japan.
Self-Defense Forces personnel, police and firefighters were carrying out operations, with 16 people missing and at least 100 injured, according to the latest Kyodo News tally.
At a disaster task force meeting, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the government will do the utmost to support those affected by the typhoon and its aftereffects, adding an interagency team will be set up to improve shelters and help evacuees to find places to live.
About 38,000 people in 17 prefectures had evacuated from their homes by midday Monday, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, adding 3,700 homes had been flooded across the country.
"There is concern that the impact on lives and economic activities may persist," Abe said. "We will respond as best we can as we continue to think about those who are suffering."
He instructed Cabinet ministers to ensure infrastructure such as electricity and water supplies are quickly restored, with numerous areas suffering outages, and to supply food, water and other materials without awaiting requests from local authorities.
In a separate meeting, Defense Minister Taro Kono told senior officials to ensure the SDF make their best efforts in responding to the disaster.
The season's 19th typhoon dumped record rainfall that led to rivers bursting their banks, flooding residential districts and triggering landslides in 11 prefectures. Evacuees who could not return home continued to shelter in sites such as local schools.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said 37 rivers in Nagano, Fukushima, Ibaraki and three other prefectures had flooded.
In the central Japan city of Nagano, workers used more than 20 pumping vehicles to help assess damage to the drainage system caused when the Chikuma River's embankment collapsed.
In New York on Sunday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres extended his deep condolences to the families of victims, as well as the government and people of Japan, while wishing the injured a speedy recovery.
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Residents wade through floodwaters as members of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force handle a flat-bottomed boat during relief operations in the aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis in Shibata district, Miyagi Prefecture on Sunday. Japan's military scrambled October 13 to rescue people trapped by flooding after powerful Typhoon Hagibis ripped across the country, killing at least 10 people and leaving more than a dozen missing.
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Japan braced on Friday for a powerful typhoon barreling towards Tokyo that has already forced the cancellation of two Rugby World Cup matches, disrupted the Suzuka Grand Prix and grounded flights.
Overnight, Typhoon Hagibis was downgraded slightly from its "super typhoon" status, but was still forecast to be packing maximum gusts of 216 kilometers per hour (134 miles per hour) when it makes landfall late Saturday.
Japan's Meteorological Agency (JMA) warned that areas from the west to the northeast of the country would experience "brutal winds and violent seas."
"We ask you to evacuate or take measures to ensure safety early, before winds and rain intensify, and before it gets dark, in order to protect your own life and the lives of your loved ones," JMA forecaster Yasushi Kajiwara said at a press briefing.
"The rain could be record-breaking," he added.
"The predicted conditions and severity of a possible disaster are tremendous."
The massive storm is expected to dump up to half a meter (nearly 20 inches) of rain on the Tokyo area in the 24 hours to midday on Sunday, with up to 80 centimeters forecast for the central Tokai area.
RUGBY CANCELLED, F1 DELAYED
The system has wreaked havoc even before making landfall.
On Friday morning, organizers said they would cancel Saturday's entire program at the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka, pushing qualifiers to the following day.
"The FIA (governing body) and Formula One support this decision in the interest of safety of the spectators, competitors and everyone at the Suzuka circuit," an FIA statement said.
The decision means the teams and drivers will have just Friday's two practice sessions in which to prepare for Sunday morning's qualifying session.
And the mega-storm has also forced Rugby World Cup organizers to cancel two Saturday fixtures: England-France in Yokohama outside Tokyo, and New Zealand-Italy in Toyota City.
The organizers said it had been a "very difficult decision", but Italy, who still had a mathematical chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals, were livid.
Captain Sergio Parisse fumed that the game would have been played if the All Blacks had needed the points, though New Zealand denied any preferential treatment.
The storm could also jeopardize a key match-up between Scotland and Japan on Sunday.
Scotland need to beat the hosts in Yokohama on Sunday to have a chance of reaching the quarter-finals. But if the match is cancelled they will be going home.
Officials are not expected to make a final decision on that match until Sunday morning, after they have assessed potential damage to the venue and transport links.
OFFICIALS ON ALERT
Japanese officials said they were on alert, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ordering officials to "take every possible measure to ensure people's safety", Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters.
The storm is expected to cause transport chaos over a holiday weekend in Japan, with many forced to cancel travel plans.
Japan's two main airlines, All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines, cancelled hundreds of domestic flights.
And the operator of the main bullet train service linking Tokyo and western cities said it would suspend all services between the capital and Nagoya on Saturday.
A major overground train company in the capital also said it would gradually halt operations from early morning and other cancellations were expected.
Japan is hit by around 20 typhoons a year, though the capital is not usually badly affected.
Hagibis is bearing down on the region just weeks after another powerful storm, Typhoon Faxai, hit the area with similar strength, killing two and causing major damage in Chiba, east of the capital.
More than 36,000 homes were damaged or destroyed in Chiba, and the local government has urged those in damaged buildings to take shelter elsewhere during the storm.
Local officials equipped with satellite phones will be dispatched across the region to ensure communities can seek help during and after the storm.
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