Japan/Taiwan/China

Mudslides and floods kill 13 in Japan

Article published on the 2009-08-10 Latest update 2009-08-11 16:54 TU

A man walks past a truck overturned by floodwaters in Sayo
(Photo: Reuters)

Fierce weather continued to wreak havoc in north-east Asia on Monday with at least 13 people dying in Japan because of floods and mudslides caused by an approaching tropical storm Etau. Hundreds remain missing in Taiwan.

It follows typhoon Morakot which battered the Philippines, Taiwan and China, killing at least 26 and damaging houses and farms.

Etau is expected to hit central Japan on Tuesday. The Japan Meteorological Agency said it was forecast to bring wind gusts of 126 kph, heavy rain and high seas.

More than 47,000 people in western Japan have been told to evacuate as the agency warned of rain, floods or mudslides for many areas in western and central Japan.

At least nine people were killed and eight more were missing in Hyogo, western Japan, a police official said. A 68-year-old woman was also killed when a mudslide hit a house in Okayama, western Japan.

Typhoon Morakot killed 11 people in the Philippines and another 14 in Taiwan where hundreds still remain unaccounted for. 

 Emergency teams have been airlifted into a remote Taiwanese village where up to 200 people are feared to have been trapped by massive mudslides.

Eight specially-trained rescuers and 13 soldiers from an elite unit were helicoptered into Hsiaolin in southern Kaohsiung county. Rescuers earlier flew 45 people to safety.

It then hit the east coast of China, collapsing more than 1,800 houses in the province of Zhejiang and killing at least one child, the official Xinhua news agency said.

One million people were evacuated before the storm made landfall.