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Tropical Storm Crosses Japan Coast, Heads for Tokyo (Update2)
2010-09-08 09:28:03.330 GMT
(Updates with more evacuations in third paragraph.)
By Aaron Sheldrick and Taku Kato
Sept. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Tropical Storm Malou crossed the
Japanese coast northeast of Kyoto, bringing heavy rain and winds
of 74 kilometers (46 miles) per hour, before heading toward
Tokyo and disrupting train services to the Japanese capital.
Malou's center was near the city of Shizuoka southwest of
Tokyo at 3 p.m. local time, Japan's Meteorological Agency said.
The storm weakened to a tropical depression and the agency
didn't give a forecast for its next expected location. Malou's
center was forecast to pass to the south of the capital after
midnight today, the agency said in a previous advisory.
More than 10,000 households southwest of Tokyo were ordered
or advised to evacuate, national broadcaster NHK Television
reported. There were no immediate reports of casualties or
serious damage. There were some reports of people being stranded
by flash floods.
East Japan Railways Co. said on its website some services
in and around the Japanese capital were disrupted by the storm.
Bullet train services to the west of Tokyo resumed at reduced
speed after being suspended earlier, Central Japan Railways Co.
said on its website.
NHK showed images of flooded streets in Tokyo and other
cities and towns nearby in its 5 p.m. bulletin. There were some
disruptions to traffic on the main expressway between Tokyo and
Nagoya, NHK said on its website.
Warnings were issued for landslides, heavy rain and
flooding for central Honshu while lower-level advisories were
posted for most of the island. The storm may dump more than 80
millimeters (2.3 inches) of rain per hour over mountainous areas
west of Tokyo, the agency said.
Malou, the 10th storm of the northwest Pacific season, is
named after a hard, colorful stone used to make souvenirs in
Macau, according to the Hong Kong Observatory, which lists names
assigned to storms in the northwest Pacific and South China Sea.
The Japanese agency counts Malou as the ninth storm of the
season, due to a different numbering system.
For Related News and Information:
Asia top stories: TOPA <GO>
More weather news: NI WEATHER BN <GO>
Power top page: PTOP <GO>
Maps: BMAP <GO>
Top general news: TOP GEN <GO>
--With assistance from and Michio Nakayama in Tokyo.
Editors: John Viljoen, Jane Lee.
To contact the reporters on this story:
Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo at +81-3-3201-3241 or
sbiggs3@bloomberg.net;
Taku Kato in Tokyo at +81-3-3201-3671 or tkato6@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
John Viljoen at +61-2-9777-8657 or jviljoen@bloomberg.net
