Typhoon Lan Videos Show Ferocious Winds And Heavy Rain In Japan

Deadly Typhoon Lan made landfall in Japan on Sunday leaving two dead and more than 10 injured. Ferocious winds swept over the land, thus making the area prone to major mudslides and flooding.

The typhoon arrived at Japan's southern coast near Minamiizu coast at 3 a.m. local time on Monday (2 p.m. EDT Sunday), with gusts of winds up to 123 mph, the country’s media reported. It was moving in a northeastern direction at the speed of 37 mph, according to CNN meteorologist Matt Daniel. The typhoon made it particularly hard for the people in Japan to go out to vote in their national elections which were held over the weekend.

Although the strength of the typhoon is diminishing as it makes its way to Tokyo, it is expected to bring heavy rains and damaging winds to the area. Warnings for heavy rain and flooding has been issued for the Pacific side of Japan including the Tokyo metropolitan area, despite weakening status of the typhoon.

The typhoon already claimed the lives of two people — a 63-year-old Fukuoka man was struck by the scaffolding of his house and another 70-year-old man dived into the sea to escape his boat which was about to get capsized due to the overzealous waves, BBC reported. Another woman was found dead in a flooded car, although officials cannot be certain that the typhoon was her cause of death.

Local residents recorded videos of the damaging weather conditions brought on by the Typhoon Lan. The following are a few of them:

As of Sunday, Typhoon Lan was maintaining a sustained wind speed of 100 mph, which made it a Category 2 storm. According to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, more than 200,000 people have been ordered to evacuate. The authorities are keeping a close watch on the progress of the typhoon and another 2.2 million homes have been placed under advisory for immediate evacuation if required.

In the past three days, Japan has already received more than 500 millimeters of rain. Shingu, a city in the Wakayama Prefecture southwest of Tokyo, recorded 894 millimeters of rain – which is an unprecedented amount since the greatest the city had seen till then was 425 millimeters in 2000.

However, there have been no major mudslides or large scale flooding in Japan due to the Typhoon Lan till now. Only small landslides were noticed in some areas and rivers rising close to the brim of the banks, News reported.

Transport services were heavily disrupted in Japan as more than 700 flights were canceled due to Typhoon Lan on Saturday and Sunday. Many of the trains carrying passengers got stuck midway to their destination due to power cuts which lasted throughout the night. Ferry and express services met were also canceled on Sunday.

Even though South Korea was not directly affected by Typhoon Lan, it did feel the effects, in some ways. Enormous waves crash onto the coast of Busan, South Korea, on Sunday, forcing fishing boats to retreat into the safety of the land for a while.