A typhoon churned toward Japan’s Pacific coast on Thursday with heavy rain and choppy waves, leaving three people, including a middle-aged surfer, dead or missing, officials said.
Typhoon Wukong, which means Monkey King in Chinese, was moving slowly towards the southern main island of Kyushu, packing winds of up to 83kph, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
Koji Ooishi (45) drowned when he was surfing off a beach at Kochi on the island of Shikoku, about 600km south-west of Tokyo, police said.
”He was seen surfing alone off a beach, not quite famous as a surfing spot. The waves rose as high as 6m,” said a police spokesperson.
Ooishi, who had no job, travelled there from his home in the port city of Kobe.
Separately 20 people, mostly anglers, were temporarily stranded on sandbanks or swept away when rainwater swelled in the Sakawa River 60km west of Tokyo, police said.
One angler in his seventies was later found dead under a bridge at the mouth of the river while another is still missing, police said. The 18 others were moved to safety.
Typhoon Wukong was 110km off Kyushu at 5pm local time and was moving at 10kph toward the island, the meteorological agency said.
”The typhoon is moving slowly so it may cause heavy rain as it is likely to stay in the same area,” said an agency official. ”But the typhoon may change its course and pass over the water.”
The Pacific coasts of Kyushu and Shikoku can expect 300mm to 350mm of rain by midnight, he said. — AFP
