Torrential rain and gale-force winds lashed Tokyo and surrounding areas on Thursday, killing one individual, injuring one other and leaving 1000’s of households with out energy.
Police stated two males have been crushed when a stack of containers collapsed at a port within the capital metropolis’s Ota ward.
A employee in his 40s working heavy equipment was pronounced lifeless on the scene whereas his colleague, in his 60s, was hospitalised with non-life-threatening accidents.
The downpour introduced giant components of the capital to a standstill. Tokyo Electrical Energy Firm Holdings stated over 6,200 households misplaced electrical energy throughout the Kanto area, together with round 4,200 within the capital, primarily in Shinagawa, Ota and Meguro wards.
The Japan Meteorological Company reported file rainfall in some districts, with Setagaya Ward getting 92mm and Ota 88.5mm inside an hour, the very best ever noticed in these areas.
Radar evaluation advised the central components of town obtained greater than 100mm rain in the identical interval – nearly half town’s traditional rainfall for all the month of September. Authorities issued emergency alerts in a number of wards, warning of river flooding, landslides and lightning.
The Yazawa river overflowed in Setagaya and the Tachiai river burst its banks in Shinagawa, prompting evacuation advisories for over 1,200 households.
Flood threat alerts have been additionally issued for the Meguro, Myoshoji, Shakujii, Nogawa and Senkawa rivers.
Transport networks have been severely disrupted. Shinkansen bullet trains between Tokyo and Shin-Yokohama have been suspended for greater than an hour, affecting an estimated 100,000 passengers earlier than partial providers resumed.
A number of native prepare strains, together with the Tokyu Meguro, Oimachi, Shin-Yokohama and Ikegami strains, have been shut down as a result of flooding whereas delays continued on others.
Operations at Tokyo’s Haneda airport have been halted from mid-afternoon as floor crews suspended work throughout lightning strikes, inflicting flight delays and cancellations.
Heavy rain and thunderstorms are forecast to proceed by Friday, with as much as 200mm anticipated within the Tokai area and 100mm in Kanto-Koshin, which incorporates Tokyo, within the 24 hours to 6pm, in accordance with the meteorological company.
Japan has confronted a succession of extreme climate occasions this summer time, with flooding, landslides and file warmth including to mounting issues about how local weather change is amplifying extremes in one of many world’s most densely populated areas.
