TOKYO: One of the strongest typhoons to hit eastern Japan in recent
years struck just east of the capital Tokyo on Monday, killing one
woman, with record-breaking winds and stinging rain damaging buildings
and disrupting transport.
More than 160 flights were canceled and scores of train lines closed for
hours, snarling the morning commute for millions in a greater Tokyo
area with a population of some 36 million.
Direct train service between Narita airport and the capital remained
severely limited into the evening, with thousands of irritated travelers
packed into a key transport hub for both the Rugby World Cup starting
later this month and next year’s Tokyo Olympics.
“They simply had no contingency plan…,” one weary traveler who lives
in Tokyo said of the scene, in which people crowded the exit areas and
food ran out in airport stores.
“They let planes land … and thousands of passengers were disgorged
into an airport that was cut off — no buses, no JR trains. The only
connection was a private train running every half hour half way to
Tokyo.”
The man, who said he arrived just before 4 p.m. local time and only
caught a bus at 7:30 p.m. after standing in line, added: “My wife said:
what if this happens during the Olympics?“
Typhoon Faxai, a Lao woman’s name, slammed ashore near the city of Chiba
shortly before dawn, bringing with it wind gusts of 207 kmh (128 mph),
the strongest ever recorded in Chiba, national broadcaster NHK said.