1st LD Writethru: 10 dead, 3 missing after Typhoon Lionrock batters northern Japan

Ten people were killed and three remained unaccounted for after Typhoon Lionrock lashed Japan's north and northeast regions a day earlier, local media reported on Wednesday.

Of the victims, nine bodies were recovered in the northeast of the country, with the deceased being found near a nursing home in Iwate Prefecture, according to the local police.

The bodies were recovered near a nursing home in the town of Iwaizumi, which was flooded by the powerful storm, with the police saying they had also found the body of a female in the city of Kuji in the prefecture, from rubble left in the storm's wake.

Local police officers said the bodies were found near a group care facility called Ranran, with public broadcaster NHK reporting that emergency calls were received following another facility in the Ranran complex being flooded as a result of the typhoon.

In Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, three people remained missing in the wake of the typhoon, which caused the issuance of more than 400,000 evacuation advisories in the Tohoku area, with one of the missing believed to be driving his car when it plunged into a river.

Typhoon Lionrock disrupted major transportation networks as of Tuesday night, with more than 100 flights scheduled to and from airports in Tohoku and Hokkaido canceled, as well as ferry services in the east and northeast regions of the country.

The typhoon was downgraded to a tropical storm as it made its way out to the Sea of Japan on Tuesday evening, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

Lionrock was the 10th typhoon of the season and the first one since record keeping began to make landfall from the Pacific in the Tohoku region. Endit