Typhoon Songda Pounds South Japan, Snarls Transport
Date: 08-Sep-04
Country: JAPAN
Author: Masayuki Kitano
Songda, the region's third typhoon in three weeks, also damaged two vessels off South Korea's southern island of Cheju and Korean authorities issued a heightened typhoon alert for the south and east coasts of the country.
It injured 225 people in southern and western Japan and authorities urged more than 83,000 households in those regions to evacuate, Japanese public broadcaster NHK said, adding that Songda had cut off electricity to around 1.25 million households.
The typhoon unleashed winds of up to 134.2 miles per hour in Hiroshima in southwestern Japan, the highest windspeed on record in the area, and brought heavy rains of 100 mm per hour to areas of nearby Yamaguchi prefecture, NHK said.
The fierce winds left scars on Itsukushima Shrine, damaging parts of the structure, including portions of the roof, Kyodo news agency said.
The shrine, a world heritage site, is partially built over water and located on Miyajima, an island in Hiroshima prefecture.
Twenty-two crew members on an Indonesian cargo vessel were also missing after the ship ran aground off of Yamaguchi prefecture just north of the southernmost main island of Kyushu, Kyodo news agency said.
The crew hasn't been heard from since informing the coast guard they were abandoning ship to escape flooding, it said.
A Panamanian freighter that had been moored off of Kochi city in southwestern Japan ran ashore, likely due to strong winds from the typhoon, Kyodo news agency said.
The typhoon flipped a truck onto its side, blew tiles off roofs and caused a tanker under construction to run aground, television footage showed.
It caused widespread cancellations of transport services in Kyushu and nearby areas, including planes, trains and ferries.
Kyushu Railway Co., which carries an average 810,000 passengers a day, stopped all its bullet trains and local trains in Kyushu, a company spokeswoman said.
"We don't know when services might be resumed," she added.
Over 430 domestic flights, mostly those going to and leaving from southwestern Japan, were canceled, NHK said.
The typhoon, plus a moderate earthquake that hit western Japan during the morning, forced at least six major oil refiners to suspend oil product shipping and crude oil uploading operations in the west and south of the country.
In South Korea, flights serving six regional airports in the south and the east were canceled and ferry services remained suspended because of Songda, which is named after a river in Vietnam.
The typhoon, which has headed north since landing on Kyushu yesterday morning, was located 50 km west of Hagi city in southwestern Japan as of 1 p.m. (12 a.m. EDT) and was heading north northeast at a speed of 55 km per hour.
It is expected to head northeast along Japan's western coast and approach the northern island of Hokkaido on Wednesday.
Seven typhoons have now hit the Japanese archipelago this year, a record for any year and twice the average number.
Songda follows close behind Typhoon Chaba, which killed at least seven people last week, and Megi, which killed 13 people in Japan and South Korea in August. (Additional reporting by Jack Kim in Seoul)
