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Tropical Storm Maria hit northern Japan yesterday, dumping two months’ worth of rain in 24 hours, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.
Maria, classified as a “severe tropical storm,” one level below the “typhoon” category, made landfall around 8:30 a.m. near Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, northeast of Honshu, the largest island in the archipelago, he added.
Local authorities reported no casualties but advised 315,000 residents to leave the area, with about 2,000 people spending the night in shelters.
“Residents in the affected areas are advised to be alert to landslides, overflowing rivers and flooding in low-lying areas,” the agency warned.
The storm has caused several flight cancellations in northern Japan, with Japan Airlines saying it had cancelled 78 domestic flights, affecting 7,039 passengers. Japan’s All Nippon Airways was forced to cancel eight flights, according to public broadcaster NHK.
Regional rail links were also disrupted, but high-speed trains continued to operate. Storm Maria is accompanied by wind gusts of 126 kilometers per hour (km/h). It is currently moving northwest at 15 km/h and is expected to reach the Sea of Japan tonight.
The region’s average total rainfall in August is 177.9 millimeters. However, Kuji City has received 362 millimeters of rain, the highest since the Japan Meteorological Agency first began recording rainfall in 1978.
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