Typhoon Roke kills at least 6 in Japan

Updated: 2011-09-21 16:10

(Xinhua)

  Comments() Print Mail Large Medium  Small 分享按钮 0

Typhoon Roke kills at least 6 in Japan

A passer-by struggles with strong winds and rain caused by Typhoon Roke in Tokyo September 21, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

TOKYO - Typhoon Roke landed on Japan's largest island of Honshu Wednesday afternoon, after it had already killed at least six people, authorities said.

Roke made landfall near Hamamatsu, central Japan, at around 2:00 pm, and was moving northeast across the nation's major island of Honshu, the meteorological agency said.

Authorities warned that Roke would likely reach Tokyo at around 6:00 pm and Fukushima Prefecture, which was ravaged by the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and the nuclear crisis, at around 9:00 pm.

The number of casualties has hit five in Aichi, Ehime, Saga and Nagasaki prefectures, with the body of a man found in a river in Nagoya early Wednesday morning.

Over one million people were initially instructed to evacuate in central Japan's Nagoya city, according to the local Kyodo News.

More than 200 domestic flights were canceled and the Yamagata Shinkansen bullet train services between Shinjo and Fukushima stations and the Tokaido Shinkansen bullet train services between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka were suspended.