TOKYO — A slow-moving storm has been bringing heavy rain to northern Japan, rising rivers, sending residents to shelters and disrupting traffic during a week-long Japanese Buddhist holiday.
The storm was once Typhoon Maria, but it has weakened and is now blowing with winds of up to 72 kilometers per hour (45 mph). It made landfall near the city of Ofunato in Iwate Prefecture on Monday morning and was expected to pass through the Tohoku region as it moved northwest at 20 kilometers per hour (12 mph), according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. .
The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said no damage or injuries had been reported so far, but authorities warned of the risks of flooding and landslides due to a relatively rare storm in the region and advised 170,000 residents in Iwate and neighboring prefectures of Aomori and Miyagi to go to shelters. Iwate Prefecture said about 2,000 people took shelter on Monday morning.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida promised that the government would quickly provide information and support to residents in affected areas.
The prefecture began an emergency controlled release of water into a river to prevent a dam from overflowing, and asked about 8,300 riverside residents in the cities of Osanai and Kuji to take shelter due to possible flooding from the release.
Up to 46 centimeters (18 inches) of rain has fallen in the past two days in the town of Kuji in Iwate and up to 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) more rain is forecast through Tuesday morning.
Footage from NHK public television showed murky water rushing down a swollen river in the city of Iwaizumi, where nine people died in a riverside nursing home in flooding caused by a typhoon in 2016. This storm is the first to makes landfall in the Tohoku region from the typhoon of 2016.
A woman at a shelter in Iwaizumi told NHK that she arrived early because she learned a lesson from the last typhoon, which destroyed her home.
The storm was affecting travel during the Obon holiday period, when people commemorate their ancestors. Several local trains were suspended and domestic flights were suspended or delayed at several airports in the area.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
