This October 15, 2013 NASA satellite image shows Typhoon Wipha off eastern Japan/AFP
TOKYO, Oct 16 – At least 13 people are known to have died after a powerful typhoon lashed Japan’s Pacific coast, police said Wednesday, warning that the death toll was likely to rise.
Typhoon Wipha, dubbed the strongest in a decade, caused landslides that buried houses as it churned past an island just south of Tokyo.
“We’ve confirmed that 13 people have died, and the number is likely to increase later,” a police official in Oshima told AFP.
Broadcaster NHK said 50 people were unaccounted for after houses were destroyed or swept away by a series of landslides and floods on Oshima, 120 kilometres (75 miles) south of the Japanese capital.
Many of the bodies of those who died were found in houses that had been splintered by huge volumes of earth sent crashing down mountainsides by torrential rains and strong winds.
Footage from the island showed ruined wooden houses half buried in mud. Mangled trees and other debris were piled up around them.
Many local residents had sought shelter in evacuation centres, reporting dirty water had been gushing into their homes, according to local media.
Emergency workers had rescued two people who were trapped inside a destroyed house by around 8 am (2300 GMT), NHK said, adding police and firefighters were having difficulty getting to some stricken areas.
The bodies of two of those who died were discovered in a swollen river, while one other was pulled from a crushed house, NHK said.
“City hall and fire station officials are doing rescue work in places accessible,” a local official told AFP.
The local authority has not been able to confirm the whereabouts of 50 of the island’s more than 8,300 residents, NHK reported.
It was not known if they were simply unable to make contact or if their situation was more grave.
Tokyo Metropolitan Police is to dispatch about 50 special police officers to the island as reinforcements, Jiji Press said.
A further three people were missing in the greater Tokyo area, officials and reports said.
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