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Four people have been confirmed dead, and at least six were missing as of Tuesday morning after Typhoon Dujuan dumped record-breaking rainfall across eastern Japan, unleashing landslides, flooding and widespread transport disruptions, according to the Japan Times.
The Japan Meteorological Agency had issued its highest-level landslide special warning on Monday for parts of the Izu Islands, including Oshima, as the storm bore down on the region.
Police, firefighters and the Self-Defense Forces have since been carrying out search operations in Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures, where a series of landslides tore into homes.
In Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, a 64-year-old woman was pronounced dead after being found inside her home, where mud and debris had flooded the first floor of the two-story building.
About a kilometer away, a couple in their 70s went missing after a separate landslide struck their house. Two more people were reported missing in nearby Miura: a woman in her 20s unaccounted for after mud and debris flowed into an apartment building, and another woman missing after a landslide damaged the building where she lived.
In Chiba Prefecture, a 51-year-old worker died after he and the heavy machinery he was operating fell into a bamboo grove while clearing mud and debris from a road in Sodegaura; a landslide had occurred near the site, and police are investigating.
Two more women were killed when landslides caused their homes to collapse, one in her 70s in Kamogawa and another in her 80s in Sanmu. Two men remain missing in Kamogawa.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Dujuan had moved east of Japan and out over the Pacific, but the JMA warned the danger is far from over, since record rainfall has left the ground saturated and rivers swollen.
In the 48 hours through 1:30 a.m. (9:10 p.m. GMT) Tuesday, Oshima in Tokyo's Izu island chain recorded 832 millimeters of rain, the highest amount ever measured there. Tokyo's Edogawa Ward Rinkai area saw 325 mm in the 48 hours through 6:10 a.m.
Neighboring Chiba Prefecture also set records, with the Sakahata area of Kimitsu logging 476.5 mm and Ichihara recording 487 mm over similar 48-hour windows.
Because landslides can occur even after rain stops due to water trapped in the soil, the JMA urged residents across the Kanto region to stay on high alert Tuesday and to keep watching for flooding in low-lying areas and rivers at risk of overflowing.
The storm also continued to disrupt daily life. About 48,320 households across four prefectures were without power as of 9:45 a.m., according to Tokyo Electric Power Grid, with most outages concentrated in Chiba; Kanagawa, Yamanashi and Shizuoka also reported blackouts.
Rail operators suspended or canceled services from the first trains Tuesday, including sections of JR East's Sobu, Narita and Sotobo lines, and Keikyu halted service between Kanazawa-Hakkei and Uraga stations and between Horinouchi and Misakiguchi stations.
Tokyo's Haneda area, in Ota Ward, recorded 261.5 mm of rain in the 48 hours through 6 a.m., its highest on record, with widespread flight cancellations hitting Silver Week travelers on Monday.
Conditions are expected to improve as Dujuan pulls farther away from Japan, with sunny skies forecast across much of Kanto on Tuesday.
Still, high waves and strong winds remain possible along the Pacific coasts of eastern and northeastern Japan, with waves up to 5 meters (16,4 feet) forecast for Kanto and Tohoku, and winds in Tohoku reaching 15 meters per second with gusts up to 30 meters per second.
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