Typhoon Talas hits western Japan; 1 dead, 3 missing

TOKYO – Typhoon Talas slammed into western Japan from the Pacific on Saturday bringing heavy rain and fierce winds and leaving at least one person dead and three missing, officials said.

The typhoon, packing gusts of up to 108 kilometres (68 miles) per hour, made landfall on the Pacific coast of Shikoku island at about 10 a.m. (0100 GMT), the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

It was slowly moving north and expected to cut across western Japanese regions into the Sea of Japan (East Sea) early Sunday, the agency said.

The body of a woman believed to be in her thirties was recovered from a swelling river in Tokushima, a major city on Shikoku, a local police spokesman said by telephone.

The National Police Agency said at least 17 people were injured, six of them seriously.

More than 300 houses were flooded while several landslides were reported, the agency said.

The meteorological agency has issued a warning of floods and landslides to residents in western Japan, where heavy rainfall was already reported.

In the mountains of Nara prefecture, some 400 kilometres (250 miles) west of Tokyo, more than 110 centimetres (43 inches) of rain has been recorded since Tuesday.