Landslide warnings as typhoon hits Japan; evacuations reported

A typhoon brought heavy rain to part of Japan on Sept. 21, causing major flooding and prompting severe weather alerts across a large chunk of the country's eastern coast.

The Japan Meteorological Agency reported high winds across the Kanto region and warned conditions could deteriorate rapidly as Typhoon ​Dujuan was forecast to pass close to Tokyo later in the ​day.

The weather service said hard rain could intensify as the typhoon nears ‌the ⁠Kanto region, an area that includes metro Tokyo and surrounding prefectures.

Heavy rain has already slammed the Izu Islands, a group of volcanic islands stretching off the peninsula of Honshū, with some locations along the Pacific Coast recording more than 12 inches of rainfall since Sept. 19, Reuters reported.

It was not immediately known whether any casualties were reported in connection with the severe weather.

The weather prompted authorities to issue the highest-level landslide ​emergency warning (Level 5) for the island town of Oshima, about 68 miles south of Tokyo.

Mandatory evacuations were issued for nearly two million people in the country, the BBC reported.

Photos and video circulating online showed people wading through high water across the region as rain continued to fall.

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Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/