Strongest Typhoon in 25 Years Hits Japan

At least 7 dead, scores injured
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 4, 2018 10:56 AM CDT
Updated Sep 4, 2018 11:02 AM CDT
7 Dead as Powerful Typhoon Whomps Japan
Kansai International Airport is partially flooded by Typhoon Jebi in Osaka, western Japan, on Tuesday.   (Nobuki Ito/Kyodo News via AP)

Video footage shows a tanker crashing into a bridge, an overturned truck teetering over water, roofs torn off houses, and a flooded main airport—the consequences of Japan's strongest typhoon in 25 years. At least seven deaths and more than 200 injuries have been reported since Typhoon Jebi made landfall in western Japan around noon local time Tuesday, reports the Japan Times. Considered to be Japan's first "very strong" typhoon since 1993, per the BBC, Jebi brought heavy rain and wind gusts of 129mph as it moved from Shikoku Island to the Japanese mainland. A 71-year-old man died when a warehouse collapsed, while another man in his 70s died in a fall from a roof, reports Reuters.

More than a million people were evacuated from their homes, and 1.6 million homes remained without power across the region late Tuesday when the storm finally reached the Sea of Japan with sustained winds of 78mph, reports the AP. Osaka was among the worst hit locales, notes the Independent. At one point, winds sent a 2,500-ton tanker crashing into a bridge connecting Kansai International Airport in Osaka Bay to the Japanese mainland. As a result, some 3,000 people were stranded at the airport where at least one runway was covered with water. Almost 800 flights were canceled overall as meteorologists warned of high waves and mudslides. (More typhoon stories.)

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