Typhoon Lan slams Japan with heavy rains, disrupts travel
Aug. 15 (UPI) -- Typhoon Lan hit the Kii Peninsula of western Japan on Tuesday, injuring several people as heavy rain and strong winds slammed the region.
The Japan Meteorology Agency warned residents in eastern, central and western Japan about flash flooding, landslides and strong winds.
Tottori and Okayama prefectures took the brunt of the storm early as they sustained heavy rain because of the establishment of a "linear precipitation zone." The zone is the development of bands of rain-heavy, dense and towering clouds that can either move slowly or even stop to douse an area in heavy rainfall in a concentrated area.
Nearly 30 inches of rain had fallen in Odai, Mie Prefecture, and Nachikatsuura, Wakayama Prefecture, in the 24 hours through the morning of Aug.15.
A linear rainband, which could bring torrential rain, formed over Okayama and Tottori prefectures before 8 a.m., local time. The heavy rain could later affect the Kanto-Koshin, Chugoku and Shikoku regions.
The Kinki region is expected to receive nearly 13 inches of rain, while 10 inches was being forecasted for Chugoku and 7.8 inches in Shikoku, Hokuriku and Kanto-Koshin.
Electrical outages were also wide-ranging. Reports said that 20,000 houses in Osaka Prefecture and 13,000 houses in Wakayama Prefecture. Some 5,400 lost power in Aichi Prefecture and 32,000 in areas in Mie Prefecture.
The storm disrupted travel as Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways Co. canceled more than 560 flights, many leaving and coming into western Japan, while Central Japan Railway and West Japan railway all bullet train services between Nagoya and Shin-Osaka and Shin-Osaka and Okayama.
