Typhoon Tokage hits Japan with heavy rain, winds
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-10-20 09:48

One person was missing as typhoon Tokage edged closer to western Japan on Wednesday, lashing the archipelago with heavy rain and high winds as it threatened to make landfall later in the day.

Tokage -- which means "lizard" in Japanese -- is the second typhoon to batter the country's main islands in under two weeks and could become a record 10th to make landfall this year.

Some parts of Kyushu, Japan's southernmost main island, were hit with 50 to 80 mm (2 to 3 inches) of rain an hour as the storm, packing winds of up to 144 km (89 miles) an hour at its centre, approached.

A farmer who went out to drain water from his rice fields in Miyazaki, southwestern Japan, was missing after being swept away by high water, NHK national television said.

Six people were injured, none seriously.

Television footage showed huge waves pounding the coastline and swollen rivers edging close to the top of their banks.

Around 17,000 households in Kyushu lost power, while train and ferry service in some areas was suspended and some 150 flights were cancelled.

Residents of Shikoku island, especially hard hit by previous typhoons, were bracing for the storm possibly to make landfall during the day.

"I've had enough already. I can't stand the thought of another typhoon," one man said as he put protective tape on the windows of his store.

As of 7 a.m. (2200 GMT), Tokage was around 70 km (44 miles) east northeast of Tanegashima island, some 985 km southwest of Tokyo, and heading northeast at 45 km an hour.

Storms and floods have killed at least 78 people in Japan this year and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage.

The latest, Ma-on, pummelled Tokyo and killed six people across the country earlier this month.

Experts say Japan has suffered from an unusual number of storms this year due to warmer offshore waters and weaker than normal Pacific high pressure areas.

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