JAPAN: Typhoon Tokage hit western Japan yesterday, killing 15 people and snarling transport. Heavy rains set off landslides and forced thousands to flee their homes.
Tokage - it means lizard in Japanese - is the second typhoon to hit the country in two weeks, and a record 10th this year.
Weather officials said the storm, which came ashore on Shikoku island, 423 miles west of Tokyo, might pass close to the capital.
"I saw waves come up to the second floor, and water all over the place. I was astonished," a woman in Kochi on Shikoku told public broadcaster NHK.
Television footage showed huge waves pounding the coastline, and muddy water flooding shopping districts. NHK said 15 people were killed and 20 missing. Among the dead were three people who were in a house that was torn down by high waves in Kochi prefecture on Shikoku.
"It's a very strong typhoon ... we are continuing strict surveillance, and have asked local regions to be on guard," government spokesman Mr Hiroyuki Hosoda told a news conference.
Business operations were also affected. The world's second-largest car-maker, Toyota Motor Corp, halted production at 12 of its factories yesterday.
The typhoon was expected to pass close to Tokyo early today. "Given the typhoon's predicted course, it is entirely possible that it will cross Honshu and brush close to Tokyo," an official at the Meteorological Agency said.
Residents of Shikoku, hit hard by previous typhoons this year, were distraught at the prospect of another.