Typhoon Man-Yi ripped through parts of Japan earlier this week, killing at least three people and injuring hundreds.
Thousands of homes lost power due to the tropical cyclone, which brought torrential rains and high winds, causing flooding and landslides in the Chubu and Kinki regions on Monday. According to the disaster management agency, more than 300 houses across central and western Japan were flooded, while 80,000 homes experienced blackouts, reports UPI.com.
Man-Yi, the season's 18th typhoon, smashed windows and caused other property damage, triggered mudslides and dumped more than 19 inches of rain in a 48-hour period. As a result, rivers overflowed their banks and thousands were forced to evacuate their homes in western Japan. Transportation across the country was severely hampered Monday but was returned to normal on Tuesday, officials said.
In Kyoto, Japan's ancient capital and a popular tourist destination, the Katsura River overflowed its banks, causing major flooding and prompting the evacuation of about 268,000 people.
In addition, the heavy rain and 100 mph winds also stirred fears at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which took a hard hit in March 2011. On a typical day, workers have struggled to contain the 400 tons of contaminated water they pump out of the plant. Added rain from Typhoon Man-Yi complicates the cleanup efforts.
"The typhoon has little chance of destabilizing the reactors, but it will certainly add more water to a site already crowded with hastily assembled steel storage tanks and relatively poor oversight," Daniel Aldrich, a political scientist at Purdue University who has been following the Fukushima disaster, told the Christian Science Monitor.
All 81,246 residents of Fukuchiyama were ordered to evacuate.
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