1 dead, 1 injured as heavy rain and winds lash Tokyo area
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Torrential rain caused flooding in parts of Tokyo on Sept 11, with record downpours and strong winds.
PHOTO: EPA
Follow topic:
TOKYO - Torrential rain caused flooding in parts of Tokyo on Sept 11, with record downpours and strong winds believed to have killed one man and injured another at a container terminal.
Police said the two men were crushed when several stacked containers collapsed at a port in Tokyo’s Ota Ward.
One of the men, in his 40s, who had been operating heavy machinery to lift the containers, was pronounced dead at the scene. His colleague, in his 60s, was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Transport services were disrupted amid the heavy rainfall. JR Tokai said Shinkansen services between Tokyo and neighbouring Kanagawa prefecture were temporarily suspended, affecting around 100,000 passengers. JR East reported delays to some trains in the capital.
Heavy rain and thunderstorms also affected Tokyo’s Haneda airport, resulting in delays and cancellations of some services.
Tokyo’s Setagaya ward saw 92mm of rain and Ota ward 88.5mm in a single hour in the afternoon of Sept 11, the heaviest on record for the areas, said the Japan Meteorological Agency.
Based on radar analysis, the agency estimated that certain areas in central Tokyo received over 100mm of rain and issued a series of alerts.
The Yazawa river overflowed in Setagaya ward, as did the Tachiai river in Shinagawa ward. At one point, the Setagaya ward office urged more than 1,200 households to evacuate. KYODO NEWS
