Typhoon Shanshan drenches Japan, prompting landslide and flood alerts

Typhoon Shanshan soaked large swathes of Japan with torrential rain on Friday, prompting warnings for flooding and landslides hundreds of miles from the storm's center, halting travel services and shutting down production at major factories.

At least four people have died and 99 others have been injured in storm-related incidents in recent days, according to the disaster management agency.

In the southwestern region of Kyushu, where the storm—reported to be one of the strongest ever to hit the region—made landfall on Thursday, residents were assessing the damage after a night of heavy rain and severe winds.

The typhoon, bringing gusts of up to 50 meters per second (180 km per hour/112 mph) strong enough to overturn moving trucks, was near the coastal city of Matsuyama in Ehime Prefecture at 3:45 p.m. and was moving east, according to authorities.

Around 250,000 households in seven prefectures were without power in Kyushu on Thursday, according to Kyushu Electric Power Co., but many had their services restored by Friday.

The warm and moist air circulating around the typhoon brought record-breaking levels of rain to some areas far from the storm's core, which authorities say is concerning given its slower than expected movement across the country.

Evacuation advisories have been issued to more than 3.3 million people nationwide, mostly in the severely affected Kyushu area, and in central and eastern regions including the capital, Tokyo and nearby Yokohama. Authorities warned of possible landslides and rivers bursting their banks due to the heavy rains.

Shizuoka, a major city in central Japan, received more than 500 millimeters of rain in the last 72 hours, the highest volume recorded since the weather agency began collecting data in 1976.

However, as of Thursday, only about 30,000 people had evacuated, primarily from Kyushu, disaster management minister Yoshifumi Matsumura reported.

The storm is expected to reach the central and eastern regions, including Tokyo, over the weekend and into early next week, according to the weather agency.

Toyota has suspended operations in all of its domestic plants through Monday morning due to the storm. Other automakers Nissan and Honda, semiconductor firms Renesas and Tokyo Electron, and electronics giant Sony have also temporarily halted production at some factories.

Airlines, including ANA Holdings and Japan Airlines, have announced cancellations of hundreds of domestic and some international flights. Many ferry and rail services, including the bullet train between Tokyo and the central city of Nagoya, were suspended on Friday morning.

Typhoon Shanshan is the latest harsh weather system to hit Japan, following Typhoon Ampil, which also led to blackouts and evacuations, earlier this month.