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We were in southwest Japan on Tuesday strong inconvenience caused by heavy rains and strong winds brought by typhoon Lan. At least 20 people were injured, 50,000 were temporarily without electricity and around 240,000 were advised to go to safety as a precaution. In several provinces of the country, the alert levels for the possibility of flooding and landslides are still high.
The typhoon formed in the Pacific Ocean and brought wind and rain to Wakayama province, southwest of Osaka and Kyoto, on Tuesday morning, before moving slowly north. Nearly 900 flights have been cancelled, several roads have been closed and some rail connections have also been suspended. In some areas of the Tokai, Kinki and Chugoku regions, also in the south-west of the country, the same amount of rain fell in a few hours as it would normally fall in a month. “The rains we’re seeing are unprecedented,” he said Satoshi Sugimoto, the director of the National Meteorological Agency’s weather forecasting department.
There are at least twenty injured reported in five different provinces, six of which in Osaka; a man from Wakayama province is seriously injured after being wedged under a collapsed wall in a residential complex. In the province of Tottori, local authorities have decided to open a dam on the Saji River for fear that the water contained in its reservoir could overflow. Tornadoes have formed in some areas, which according to initial information have not caused major damage.
Lan is expected to continue causing heavy rains in Osaka province and the central part of the country on Tuesday night, before moving into the Sea of Japan on Wednesday morning. However, it shouldn’t create problems in the Tokyo area.
The typhoon is creating inconvenience in the midst of the celebrations of Obon, or Bon, the annual event in which the Japanese gather to celebrate their ancestors. Some of the country’s popular museums and attractions, such as the Imperial Palace in Kyoto and Universal Studios Japan in Osaka, remained on Tuesday closed to the public.
– Read also: More than 100 people have died from the rainy season in Asia