Japan braces for two more destructive storms, two weeks after chaos of Typhoon Hagibis

Gale-force winds and heavy rain are set to lash Tokyo and the surrounding regions on Thursday evening

Meanwhile, Typhoon Bualoi is already battering the Ogasawara Islands, south of Tokyo, with strong winds, heavy rainfall and high waves

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A man in Nagano wades through floodwaters in the aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis. Photo: AFP

Published: 5:30pm, 24 Oct 2019Updated: 10:54pm, 24 Oct 2019

Two weeks after Typhoon Hagibis wreaked havoc across much of eastern Japan, the country is bracing itself for two more storms set to slam into Tokyo and the surrounding regions.

The Japan Meteorological Agency has issued warnings for gale-force winds and heavy rain on Thursday evening in Tokyo and the surrounding regions, while Typhoon Bualoi is already battering the Ogasawara Islands, south of Tokyo, with strong winds, heavy rainfall and high waves.

The death toll from Hagibis stands at 84, with nine people still listed as missing as a result of the October 12 storm.

About 70,000 homes were damaged or destroyed by Hagibis, which also caused the agriculture and fisheries industries in 37 of Japan’s 47 prefectures to suffer some 87.6 billion yen (US$807 million) in losses.

Kazuhisa Tsuboki, a professor at Nagoya University who studies super typhoons, says Bualoi is not as powerful as Hagibis and the eye of the storm is likely to travel north over the Pacific off Japan’s east coast – but it still poses significant dangers.