Tokyo hunkers down as powerful typhoon sideswipes city

TOKYO -- One of the strongest typhoons to threaten Tokyo in decades sideswiped Japan's capital late Tuesday after demolishing houses and trees, shattering windows and killing a security guard at a construction site.

Typhoon Higos dumped heavy rains on small islands and cities in and around the capital throughout the day, flooding hundreds of homes and forcing nearly 1,000 residents to be evacuated.

A 21-year-old woman was washed away at a beach near Yokohama while watching a surf, and more than 20 people were reported slightly injured, including a man whose car was hit by a tree and three people cut by shattered windows.

Ports and highways were closed and hundreds of flights were canceled. Authorities halted many trains connecting metropolitan cities, keeping commuters from returning home. Tens of thousands of homes were left without electricity.

Flood warnings

Late Tuesday, government officials issued flood warnings along Tokyo's Tama River, swollen to dangerous levels after nearly eight inches of rainfall. Several houses, including a downtown Tokyo cake shop, were destroyed in loosened earth. Authorities warned of the possibility of more mudslides.

The 53-year-old building guard was killed by a steel window frame that was blown off by the wind while patrolling in a building under construction in Yokohama, police said.

A Bahamas-registered vessel ran aground off an island south of Tokyo Tuesday in rough waters, possibly leaking oil, said Takashi Nagura of Japan Coast Guard, which rescued all 24 crew.

After passing near Tokyo late Tuesday, Higos was packing sustained winds of 78 mph, approaching Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido.

Higos -- which means "fig" in Micronesian -- was the third-strongest typhoon to menace Tokyo since World War II, agency official Joji Ito said.

Stronger typhoons have struck other parts of Japan, but rarely pass directly over the capital.

Its approach seriously disrupted transportation in the capital region, home to about 20 million people.

About 300 domestic flights, most of them to and from Tokyo or several small islands in the storm's path, were canceled Tuesday, Japan's public broadcaster NHK reported. More cancellations are expected Wednesday in northern Japan.

Higos caught Japan's traveling government delegates. The return of the fact-finding team sent to investigate the abductions of more than a dozen Japanese by North Korean was delayed for hours as their flight from Beijing had to land in western Japan before returning midnight to Tokyo.

Tokyo Wan Ferry, which runs 20 short-distance ferries daily in Tokyo Bay, canceled its entire schedule from mid-afternoon, company spokesman Takateru Shibuya said. Yokohama port, just south of Tokyo, was closed to most shipping.

Trains in the capital region, including some of Japan's famed high-speed bullet trains, were being suspended. At Tokyo station, dozens of passengers spent overnight on a parked train.

In Tateyama, just south of Tokyo, power supply was cut to about 15,000 homes due to safety concerns. More blackouts were reported in northern Japan, where up to 10 inches of rain was forecast by Wednesday morning and fresh warnings of heavy rain and strong winds were issued.

Flying debris was responsible for several of the injuries reported.

A 41-year-old man suffered a minor head injury when a tree fell atop his car at a traffic signal in central Japan, said Aichi prefectural (state) police spokesman Tadashi Naruse. Three people suffered cuts outside a supermarket in Shimoda, southwest of Tokyo, when gusts shattered shop windows.

Japan was last hit by a typhoon in early September, when 29 people were injured and power cut to tens of thousands of homes on the southern Okinawan islands.

That typhoon came about a week after Typhoon Rusa ravaged South Korea, leaving at least 184 people dead or missing. Rusa was the worst typhoon to hit South Korea since 1959, when Typhoon Sarah killed more than 840.