The death toll in Japan from heavy rain and flooding caused by Typhoon Megi climbed to six on Wednesday, with another two people missing, disaster officials said.
The bodies of an 84-year-old man and a 75-year-old woman who had been swept to sea were found on Wednesday near Kagawa prefecture, about 550km west of Tokyo, Fire and Disaster Management Agency official Toshiyuki Ozaki said.
A 78-year-old-man was also found dead after being swept into an irrigation ditch in neighbouring Ehime prefecture while on Tuesday a 74-year-old man was found dead in an overflowing irrigation channel.
Two more deaths were confirmed late on Wednesday, local police officials separately said.
Two women, aged 72 and 45, were missing after being swept away by a flash flood in Kagawa.
”They had gone to take refuge in a shelter but a flash flood occurred and they were swept away,” Ozaki said.
Torrential rainfalls caused by Typhoon Megi were expected to continue through Thursday, the Meteorological Agency said.
The agency warned of landslides and flooding in affected areas and of strong winds and high waves in western Japan.
Megi, which means fish in Korean, dumped 439mm of rain in Shikokuchuo city in Ehime prefecture, and could dump up to another 300mm on the island of Shikoku and southern Kyushu in the 24 hours to noon on Thursday, the agency said.
The typhoon, the 15th of the season to affect Japan, was in the East China Sea heading north and packing 126kph winds at 7pm (10am GMT).
It was expected to hit the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula early on Thursday, then curve east back toward northern Japan. — Sapa-AFP