Typhoon Vongfong weakens after sweeping through Japanese archipelago

A large typhoon that had swept through the Japanese archipelago weakened in intensity on Tuesday as it reached the Pacific off Japan’s northeastern coast, leaving at least two dead and 90 others injured.

Typhoon Vongfong made landfall twice in Japan on Monday – in Kagoshima prefecture in the southwest and Osaka prefecture in the west – and passed Tokyo and surrounding areas, causing extensive disruptions to air and railway transportation on the last day of the country’s three-day weekend.

Local governments issued evacuation advisories to a total of 1.76 million people nationwide, and one person each was killed in the western Japan prefectures of Tottori and Ehime.

West Japan Railway had cancelled all of its local train services in the Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe areas and more than 100 limited express trains by around 4pm on Monday as the typhoon approached, affecting some 480,000 people before resuming most services on Tuesday morning from the first trains.

Rainfall between Monday and Tuesday reached 83 millimetres per hour in Sumoto, Hyogo prefecture in western Japan, and 79mm at Kansai International Airport in Osaka prefecture.