On Thursday, August 29, Typhoon Shanshan struck southwestern Japan with strong winds and heavy rain, causing power outages, grounding air traffic, forcing major factories to shut down, and prompting evacuation notices for millions of people.
According to reports by Reuters, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi stated at a press conference that the typhoon has resulted in three deaths, one person missing, and 45 injuries.
“Shanshan” is one of the most intense typhoons Japan has experienced in decades. The storm led Toyota to halt operations at all domestic factories, while Nissan, Honda, semiconductor companies Renesas, Tokyo Electron, and Rohm temporarily ceased production at some of their facilities.
When the typhoon hit Miyazaki City in southern Kyushu, Tomoki Maeda, an employee at a funeral home, was sitting in a hearse. The storm shattered windows, brought down power lines, and even blew down walls of buildings.
Maeda told Reuters, “In my 31 years of life, I have never experienced such powerful winds or tornadoes.”
According to the meteorological agency, the typhoon approached Unzen in Nagasaki Prefecture at 3:00 PM (0600 GMT) and moved north with gusts reaching speeds of about 50 meters per second (180 km/h, 112 mph), strong enough to topple moving trucks.
Kyushu Electric Power Co. reported that on Thursday afternoon, more than 200,000 households in seven prefectures experienced power outages. The company had earlier confirmed that their Sendai Nuclear Power Plant in Satsumasendai was not affected when the storm made landfall earlier in the day.
The storm is forecasted to continue impacting the Kyushu region in the coming days and is expected to approach the central and eastern regions, including the capital Tokyo, over the weekend.
Officials stated that 5.2 million people nationwide have received evacuation notices, mainly concentrated in the Kyushu region and parts of central Japan affected by landslides triggered by heavy rains on Wednesday. In Aichi Prefecture’s Gamagori City, a house was hit by a landslide, resulting in a family of four going missing according to Agence France-Presse.
Madoka Kubo, a hotel owner from Hitoyoshi, a historic riverside city in Kumamoto Prefecture, revealed to Reuters that all bookings at her hotel have been canceled, and she is currently providing accommodation for elderly evacuees from nearby areas.
Airlines including ANA Holdings and Japan Airlines have announced the cancellation of nearly 800 flights. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism stated that train services in many areas of Kyushu have been suspended, with hundreds of buses and ferry services also halted.
Prior to Typhoon Shanshan, Typhoon Ampil, which hit earlier this month, also resulted in school closures, power outages, and widespread evacuations.