Japanese media reported that much-anticipated Typhoon Lan entered the western part of the country early Tuesday causing more than 800 flights to cancel and leaving thousands of residents without power, with authorities forced to issue flood and landslide alerts.
Entering from the Pacific Ocean towards Japan, Typhoon Lan hit the southern tip of Wakayama prefecture, some 400 km (250 miles) southwest of Tokyo.
The typhoon — which followed closely on the heels of Typhoon Khanun during Japan’s peak Obon holiday season — lashed wide swathes of central and western Japan with heavy rains and powerful winds.
According to Japanese broadcaster NHK, power outages hit more than 21,000 households in central Mie prefecture, and thousands more in nearby prefectures, including Osaka.
Anticipating the dangerous levels of winds and rains a day earlier, high-speed train operators had also planned suspensions of services affecting the area.
Convenience store operator 7-Eleven shuttered more than a 100 stores.
Over the next 24 hours, the central Tokai region — home of Toyota Motor — was expected to get about 350 mm (13.8 inches) of rainfall, nearly three times the average rainfall for the month of August.
Many factories close during the Obon holidays, when city-dwellers return to their ancestral homes.
Typhoon Lan had sustained winds of 150 kph (93 mph) and was moving northwest across the western part of the main island of Honshu as of 0000 GMT.
It was forecast to reach the Sea of Japan by early Wednesday and continue north along the sea, according to Japan’s weather agency.
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