Typhoon Wipha hits Tokyo

Tokyo - At least 14 people have died and hundreds of flights have been canceled as Typhoon Wipha pummeled the Tokyo area on Wednesday.

A local government official in Oshima, a small island 120 km (75 miles) south of Tokyo, said that 13 people died after heavy rain triggered flooding and landslides that blocked roads and crushed houses.

Rescuers were unable to reach about 50 people in the area hit by landslides.

One other woman was confirmed dead after being rescued from a river in Machida, western Tokyo.


More than 500 domestic and international flights were canceled at Tokyo's Narita and Haneda airports and the national rail operator halted bullet train services in central and northern Japan.

The typhoon is moving north along the Pacific coast of Japan and is expected to reach the northernmost island of Hokkaido by late Wednesday.

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the main electricity supplier in Tokyo and central Japan, said blackouts affected more than 56,000 households.

TEPCO, which has been struggling to deal with a series of leaks at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, said workers at the plant were "on vigil" and accumulated rainwater had been released from storage tanks.

Source:CNN