Trami travelled on a path up the centre of the mainland, shaking buildings and nerves around the country.
People in Japan have been witnessing the brute force of Mother Nature in recent months, with earthquakes, floods, and typhoons wreaking havoc on the country. Just yesterday the 24th of typhoon of the year, Typhoon Trami, made landfall in Japan and tore its way up the centre of the mainland, coming close to the capital of Tokyo and bringing public transport to a halt as people were encouraged to stay indoors to shelter from the rain and strong winds, which hit a maximum speed of 216 kilometres (134 miles) per hour.
As Trami travelled up from the south, it first hit the southern island of Okinawa on Saturday, causing flash floods and rising swells which had the rest of the country concerned about what was to come.
▼ This video, taken from inside a carpark, shows the intensity of the wind and rain in the area.
One Twitter user attempted to walk outside during the storm but hardly managed to stand due to the fierce winds.
▼ The sudden downpours quickly turned streets into rivers.
And up in the air, cranes on high rise buildings swung about in the wind, threatening to topple over.
After battering Okinawa, the slow-moving typhoon made its way to the mainland, affecting Kagoshima on the southern island of Kyushu at approximately 11:30 a.m. on Sunday.
▼ Winds in the area were strong enough to topple vending machines.
▼ In the neighbouring prefecture of Miyazaki, heavy rains flooded streets.
At approximately 12.35pm, Trami made landfall at Wakayama Prefecture in western Japan, with authorities sending out advisories for people in the area to “brace for extreme weather“. As it travelled on a path up the centre of the country, prefecture after prefecture was struck by torrential rain and winds. In some areas, debris was blown onto power lines, causing sparks and blackouts.
Hundreds of thousands of homes lost power during the storm, but the electricity in public areas at some apartment blocks seemed to be affected in an unusual way.
Shizuoka Prefecture was one of the worst-hit areas, with damaged roofs, uprooted trees, and widespread blackouts in the area.
▼ The roads were dark without power running in Shizuoka’s largest city, Hamamatsu.
Close to midnight, the temperature rose a few degrees and the wind picked up around the Kanto region as the centre of the typhoon made its way through Nagano Prefecture near Tokyo.
▼ Around this time, Kanagawa Prefecture was also hit by heavy rain and strong winds.
▼ Fujisawa Station in Kanagawa appeared to be damaged during the storm.
Despite not being directly in the path of the typhoon, Tokyo was lashed by extreme weather that shook buildings, leading many residents to comment that it was the strongest typhoon they’d ever experienced in Tokyo. This video, filmed in front of the Hikarie building in Shibuya, shows how wild the weather became in the heart of the city.
JR East suspended all its train services in Tokyo, including the busy Yamanote Line, at 8 p.m. The live cam at Shibuya’s scramble crossing showed the area was deserted during the peak of the storm, although one person was eager to get their minute of fame on the live cam by jumping up and down in the middle of the road.
Today, after the storm passed, the skies were clear around the country, with unusually warm temperatures on the first day of October. However, in the light of day, more scenes of damage were brought to light around the country.
▼ This tree was uprooted at Meguro.
▼ And this one was found at Naka-Itabashi Station in Tokyo.
▼ In Saitama Prefecture, workers got straight to work repairing broken power lines.
Offices and apartments in high-rise buildings sustained some damage to glass windows and balconies.
And a number of shrine and temple buildings around the country were also damaged, including this one at Yabo Tenman-gu shrine in Kunitachi, Tokyo.
▼ A building at Kasuisai Temple in Fukuroi, Shizuoka, also collapsed due to the storm.
▼ At Koenji in Tokyo, a small eatery was blown off the wall overnight.
▼ Today it was being cleared away by workers.
Another eatery hit hard by the storm was family restaurant chain Gust, which suffered two toppled signs, one at the Numazu Bypass in Shizuoka Prefecture…
▼ And the other at one of their branches in Okinawa.
Despite all the damage caused by the typhoon around the country, news reports have recorded two deaths and approximately 120 injuries nationwide. With yet another typhoon on course to hit Japan in the upcoming week, it’s an important reminder to take note of official weather warnings, heed the advice sent out by officials, and have your disaster preparedness kit ready in times of extreme weather.
Source: Instagram/台風24号
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