Japan advised more than a million people to leave their homes after two tropical storms swept across the archipelago on Friday, with torrential rains also lashing Taiwan where at least two people have died.
Strong Tropical Storm Mekkhala was downgraded to a typhoon but still packed gusts of up to 108 kilometers (67 miles) per hour, forecasters said.
Heavy rain has already hit parts of southern and western Japan, as well as Taiwan, where Makkhala caused flooding and landslides across the island.
A 73-year-old woman died when she was swept away by floods in Taiwan’s southern port city of Kaohsiung, and a 49-year-old woman was found dead inside a submerged car in Hsinchu County.
A 65-year-old man disappeared in Hsinchu after going to check on his farmland.
In Japan, four people have been injured and authorities have warned of the dangers of flooding and landslides.
Mekkhala was expected to cross the islands of Kyushu, Shikoku and Honshu over the weekend, affecting parts of Japan including densely populated Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo.
The weather system was expected to converge with Tropical Storm Higos, which was also spinning further into the Pacific Ocean.
This can result in the atmospheric phenomenon known as the Fujiwhara effect, when two storms interact, making it more difficult to predict their movements and strengths.
Local authorities in Japan have advised more than a million residents to evacuate their homes, warning of possible landslides and other disasters linked to heavy rains, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said.
“There is a risk of extremely heavy rain at warning levels,” government spokesman Minoru Kihara told reporters.
“So far, we have received reports of one person seriously injured and three people with minor injuries,” as well as flooding in dozens of buildings mainly in the southern Kagoshima region, he said.
“We offer our heartfelt condolences to all those affected by the disaster and will continue to get an accurate picture of the damage situation,” he said, adding that the government is working with municipalities to take “emergency disaster response measures.”
Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways canceled a total of 120 flights to and from the southern regions of Okinawa and Kagoshima.
Officials in Kyoto and Osaka said water levels in rivers were rising, warning of possible flooding.
Automaker Toyota suspended operations at a plant in Kyushu due to road closures caused by heavy rain, while Nissan also said it planned to halt some production lines, Kyodo News reported.
In Taiwan, more than 1,600 people were evacuated from their homes, and schools and offices were closed in some areas, while some train lines were suspended.
Authorities warned Friday of potentially dangerous debris flows in the mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan’s Hualien and southern Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties, where the weather forecast agency said up to 88 cm (34.6 inches) of rain had fallen since Thursday.
