TOKYO, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Two more people were confirmed dead on Tuesday in Chiba Prefecture, a day after heavy rain from a large typhoon battered the Kanto region in eastern Japan and triggered landslides, local media reported.
Two women in their 70s and 80s were pronounced dead after their homes collapsed in landslides, bringing the death toll to four, according to Kyodo News.
Local media reported earlier that a woman in her 60s who lived in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, died on Monday after a landslide struck her home and sent mud pouring into the house. On the same day, in Sodegaura, Chiba Prefecture, a man in his 50s died after falling into a bamboo grove while operating heavy machinery to clear mud and debris from a landslide.
Six people remain unaccounted for in Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures, both near Tokyo. Police and firefighters are continuing search operations.
Typhoon Dujuan, which approached Japan's eastern Pacific coast on Monday and is now moving away, brought record rainfall to the Kanto region and the Izu Islands, triggering a series of landslides and river flooding.
Rainfall in Oshima Town in the Izu Island chain over the 48 hours to 8 p.m. local time on Monday reached 832 mm, more than 2.4 times the town's average rainfall for the entire month of September and the highest since records began, according to NHK. A top-level landslide warning was temporarily issued for the town on Monday.
The typhoon also forced All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines to cancel more than 270 flights, mainly those to and from Tokyo's Haneda airport, affecting about 40,000 people in total.
Although sunny weather is expected across a wide swath of Japan on Tuesday, weather authorities are urging continued vigilance against landslides, as the ground remains saturated and unstable following the heavy rain. ■
