Typhoon Hagibis: Tokyo shuts down as worst storm in six decades lashes Japan
An eerie weather phenomenon just before Typhoon Hagibis hit Tokyo has left residents stunned.
It’s the weather phenomenon that left witnesses stunned.
Just before Typhoon Hagibis hit Japan, the sky turned a deep purple.
Residents were so staggered by the weather event, they took to social media to document the eerie sight.
The purple sky is known as scattering, and it occurs when heavy rains rid the atmosphere of larger particles.
Rescue efforts for people stranded in flooded areas are in full force after the powerful typhoon dumped heavy rain and winds lashed a widespread area of Japan, including Tokyo.
Typhoon Hagibis made landfall south of Tokyo on Saturday and moved northward. The typhoon has so far left four people dead, 17 missing and more than 100 people injured.
The sky turned purple today in Osaka. #TyphoonHagibis #myfirsttyphoon pic.twitter.com/H1tFFDXade
— Aled Evans (@AledDreamState) October 11, 2019
Let’s pray for Japan, a purple sky is never a good sign. #PrayForJapan pic.twitter.com/mjJK1Crqs4
— Yeime (@Yeime20) October 12, 2019
Sending my prayers to everyone in Japan. May everyone be safe from this typhoon.
— طلعت کاش٠(@_IM_KASHIFT) October 12, 2019
Purple sky😱😱
God bless Japan
#PrayForJapanpic.twitter.com/d8wnMFLyE7 pic.twitter.com/CIJA2llKIP
OMG! Typhoon Hagibis turns Japanese sky purple! pic.twitter.com/KQ7DrKiwBL
— AKB48 Daily (@AKB48Daily) October 12, 2019
News footage showed a rescue helicopter hovering in a flooded area in Nagano Prefecture, after an embankment of the Chikuma River broke, plucking people from the second floor of a home submerged in muddy waters.
Several other rivers had also overflowed, including Tama River near Tokyo, according to broadcaster NHK.
Authorities warned that the risk of mudslides remained
Store shelves were bare after people stocked up on water and food.
The Japan Meteorological Agency warned of dangerously heavy rainfall in Tokyo and surrounding prefectures, including Gunma, Saitama and Kanagawa, and later expanded the area to include Fukushima and Miyagi to the north.
A coastal earthquake also rattled the area.
“Be ready for rainfall of the kind that you have never experienced,” said meteorological agency official Yasushi Kajihara, adding that areas usually safe from disasters may prove vulnerable.
“Take all measures necessary to save your life,” he said.
Kajihara said people who live near rivers should take shelter on the second floor or higher of any sturdy building if an officially designated evacuation centre wasn’t easily accessible.
Hagibis, which means “speed” in Filipino, was advancing north-northwestward with maximum sustained winds of 144kmh, according to the meteorological agency.
It was travelling northward at a speed of 40kmh. It reached Kawasaki, a western part of greater Tokyo, late on Saturday and headed to Tsukuba city to the north about an hour later, before it was expected to swerve toward the sea, the agency said.
The storm brought heavy rainfall in wide areas of Japan all day ahead of its landfall, including in Shizuoka and Mie prefectures, southwest of Tokyo, as well as Chiba to the north, which saw power outages and damaged homes in a typhoon last month.
Under gloomy skies, a tornado ripped through Chiba on Saturday, overturning a car in the city of Ichihara and killing a man inside the vehicle, city official Tatsuya Sakamaki said. Five people were injured when the tornado ripped through a house. Their injuries were not life-threatening, Sakamaki said.
One person was found dead in an overturned vehicle in the city of Ichihara, east of Tokyo, and five others were injured when a tornado touched down in the area, destroying one house and blowing away the roofs of several others.
Another person died and two people were unaccounted for in the city of Tomioka, about 120 kilometres north-west of Tokyo, after a landslide hit four houses there, broadcaster NHK reported.
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued the highest alert level for 12 regions, including Tokyo, warning of amounts of rain that occur only once in decades.
Agency official Yasushi Kajihara said: “Be ready for rainfall of the kind that you have never experienced.
“Damage from floods and landslides is likely taking place already.
“It is critical that people take action urgently to protect their lives and the lives of loved ones.”
Three people are unaccounted for in the city of Tomioka, about 120km northwest of Tokyo, after a landslide hit houses there. Six residents were rescued.
One person was missing in the central city of Gotemba after he was swept away in a drain.
Since Thursday, Hakone Town, west of Tokyo, had received more than 800 millimetres of rain and the city of Izu more than 700mm. About 122,000 households lost electricity in the Kanto region and Shizuoka prefecture, Tokyo Electric Power said.
Nobuyuki Tsuchiya, director of the Japan Riverfront Research Center, said Tokyo, where 1.5million people live below sea level, said residents are at risk of storm surges.
He said: “We are heading towards high tide. If the typhoon hits Tokyo when the tide is high, that could cause storm surges and that would be the scariest scenario.
“People in Tokyo have been in a false sense of security.”
Hagibis is comparable to the 1958 typhoon that hit eastern and central Japan, killing more than 1200 people, the agency said.
Two rugby World Cup games scheduled for Saturday were cancelled due to the expected impact of Hagibis, while the typhoon also affected the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix this weekend at Suzuka.
Qualifying has been moved from Saturday to Sunday, F1 officials said, and all events were cancelled on Saturday at the Suzuka Circuit.
Hagibis comes one month after Typhoon Faxai battered eastern Japan, including Tokyo, leaving one dead and about 130 injured and causing massive power outages.
Yusuke Ikegaya, a Shizuoka resident, was lucky and evacuated to safety. He said he was surprised because he had been told the typhoon was landing in the afternoon but noticed the nearby river about to overflow in the morning. “In the 28 years of my life, this is the first time I’ve had to evacuate even before a typhoon has landed,” he said.
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Dozens of evacuation centres were opening in coastal towns, and people were resting on gymnasium floors, saying they hoped their homes were still there after the storm passed.
The storm has disrupted this nation’s three-day weekend, which includes Sports Day on Monday. Qualifying for a Formula One auto race in Suzuka was pushed to Sunday. The Defence Ministry cut a three-day annual navy review to a single day on Monday.
All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines grounded most domestic and international flights scheduled Saturday at the Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya airports. Central Japan Railway Co. said it will cancel all bullet train service between Tokyo and Osaka except for several early Saturday trains connecting Nagoya and Osaka. Tokyo Disneyland was closed.
Ginza department stores and smaller shops throughout Tokyo shuttered ahead of the typhoon.
Mike Alsop, 57-year-old executive coach from England, was visiting Japan for the World Rugby tournament, but was left stranded at an abandoned Tokyo train station.
“We were hoping to watch England play against France today, disappointed that we won’t be able to but completely understand it,” he said.
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