At least five people were killed and nearly 60 others injured as the season's seventh typhoon, packing gusts of up to 108 kph, hit Wakayama Prefecture on Tuesday and swept through the Kinki, Tokai and Hokuriku regions.
As it moved north toward Tohoku, flooding caused by Typhoon No. 7 crippled air, road and sea traffic in Shikoku and surrounding areas. Tokushima, Kagawa and Kochi prefectures were drenched by precipitation that fell at a rate of over 120 mm per hour when the medium-size but powerful typhoon hit the Kii Peninsula in Wakayama Prefecture just after 1 p.m., according to the Meteorological Agency.
The area was still reeling from Typhoon No. 8, which struck Monday in the archipelago's first consecutive typhoon strikes in 10 years, according to the agency.