Japan on alert against typhoon Namtheun

The typhoon made landfall near Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, and reached the Sea of Japan on Wednesday.

Footage on NHK showed the nursing home partially buried in mud, surrounded by debris apparently washed down in the swollen river.

Authorities intensified search operations on the northern island of Hokkaido, where three people remained missing after their cars fell into rivers while they were driving.

The typhoon, with winds of over 160km/h when it made landfall, also caused flooding on the northern island of Hokkaido.

The typhoon is now packing maximum wind speeds near its center of 40 meters per second, with maximum gusts of 55 meters per second, with an atmospheric pressure of 955 hectopascals (hPa), the weather agency said.

The powerful storm brought heavy rain throughout the region, causing massive flooding in Iwate Prefecture and Hokkaido. “We are not sure what preparations the facility had taken”, said a prefectural government official who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media. As of the same time, at least 400 people were stranded in seven municipalities, including Kamaishi, Miyako and Tono.

Police found nine bodies today in the nursing home in the town of Iwaizumi, in Iwate Prefecture in the north of Japan’s main island of Honshu, but it was not clear when their home was flooded.

In Kuji City, where its centre was inundated, an old woman was found dead among rubble Wednesday. The Ground Self-Defense Force carried out rescue missions in Kamaishi and Iwaizumi, using helicopters and other means, in response to a request for disaster relief from the Iwate governor.

Farther north, on the island of Hokkaido, at least two rivers broke through their banks. An evacuation order was not issued. A 28-year-old man whose auto fell into a river due to a damaged bridge were missing. Vehicles also wound up in flood waters in the towns of Shintoku and Shimizu. The government sent troops to help in the rescue and cleanup effort.