Typhoon Dujuan forces evacuation of nearly two million in Japan
Typhoon Dujuan skirted Japan without making direct landfall but triggered mass evacuations, flooding and landslides, cutting power to tens of thousands of homes and grounding hundreds of flights.
Storm nears Japan without direct landfall
Typhoon Dujuan swept past Japan's eastern and southern regions on Monday and into Tuesday without making direct landfall. According to the Guardian, the storm briefly reached typhoon strength on Friday, weakened to a tropical storm by Sunday morning, and was then forecast to restrengthen into a typhoon by Tuesday morning. Sources differ on wind speeds: the Guardian's earlier forecast put sustained winds at up to 80mph (129km/h) with gusts near 100mph, while the BBC, citing Japan's Meteorological Agency later on Monday evening, reported sustained winds of 143km/h (89mph) and gusts up to 198km/h, with the storm's centre still offshore east of the Izu Islands.
Evacuations, flooding and casualties
Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs urged more than 1.9 million people across six prefectures to evacuate. Chiba prefecture was hit hardest, recording more than 500mm of rain over two days, with Oshima Town seeing up to 800mm. The Guardian noted that some coastal areas of the Kanto and Chubu regions could see around 200mm of rain in 24 hours — roughly a month's worth of September rainfall — with nearly 90mm forecast to fall on Tokyo within six hours on Monday evening, and more than 80mm expected on the Izu Peninsula within just three hours. The highest-level landslide warning was issued for the Izu Islands.
As reported by the BBC, a woman in her 60s is feared to have been buried alive by a landslide in Yokosuka, Kanagawa prefecture, with firefighters attempting a rescue, while another man was hospitalised in Chiba. More than 50,000 households lost power, mostly in Chiba. A total of 384 flights were cancelled on Monday, after 33 on Sunday. This is the 25th typhoon to affect the region this year.
Situation eases
Late on Monday, Japanese authorities downgraded Tokyo's alert level from 4 to 2 on a five-point scale as rainfall eased. Residents were still urged to remain alert for further landslides, flooding, lightning and tornadoes as Dujuan continues moving northeast along the Pacific coast before weakening. The storm struck during Japan's "Silver Week" holiday period. BBC climate reporting notes that climate change is not thought to be increasing the overall number of typhoons, but warmer oceans can make storms that do form more intense, while this year's El Niño may be making Japan more exposed to stronger typhoons.
