Powerful typhoon lands on W Japan two times, leaving 2 dead

The 11th typhoon Nangka made landfalls late Thursday and early Friday on the western Japan island of Shikoku and Okayama Prefecture separately, leaving at least two dead while causing major disruptions to transport systems, local media reported.

Over 4,000 residents in Kochi Prefecture on the Shikoku Island were advised by local authorities to evacuate their homes in case of landslides and flooding triggered by the powerful typhoon.

The typhoon landed near Cape Muroto in Kochi Prefecture around 11 p.m. local time (1400 GMT) Thursday, packing winds of up to 180 kilometers per hour and causing heavy rain across a wide area from Shikoku to northeastern Japan.

It later headed north to the Seto Naikai and made the other landfall Friday morning in Okayama Prefecture. It is expected to move northward into the Sea of Japan after Friday afternoon, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

In Hyogo Prefecture, a 71-year-old man died after sustaining head injuries while trying to reinforce window glass, and the body of an 85-year-old man who had apparently gone out to check on a canal for farmland has been found, local media reported.

The storm has caused railway services to be canceled or suspended mostly in western Japan. Airline service has also been severely affected with more than 200 flights linking Tokyo and Shikoku canceled since Thursday evening. Endi