Typhoon Jongdari: A powerful storm hits Japan ravaged by bad weather

A powerful storm hit Japan, bringing torrential rains and winds of up to 180 km / h.

Typhoon Jongdari (or "Skylark" in Korean) landed on the main island of the country, Honshu, at 01: 00:00 (16:00 GMT) Sunday

The weather officials l & rsquo; Have since degraded into a tropical storm, but warn that heavy rains could trigger landslides.

The storm comes less than a month after the floods left more than 200 people dead Japanese public television channel NHK reports that 150,000 households are without electricity and 16 people have been injured.

Earlier, evacuation orders were given to 36,400 people in the city of Shobara, in the west of the country. and 6,300 in the city of Kure.

"We are afraid that people will not be able to evacuate because of strong winds or floods blocking the escape routes," said Hiroshima Governor Hidehiko Yuzaki. evacuate in advance so that they can save their lives. "

" Dou More than eight million people were ordered to leave their homes earlier in July when torrential rains saw their rivers burst, but some were trapped after failing The critics said that the official warning had arrived too late.

The prefectures most affected by the floods were Okayama, Hiroshima and Yamaguchi, in the Chugoku area, and more than 4,000 survivors still live in temporary shelters.

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"We are completely ready 24 hours a day to evacuate the inhabitants," said Saturday at the AFP news agency Tadahiko Mizushima, an official of Okayama

"We pay special attention to areas where riverbank restoration is underway as it would act as the first heavy rain since the disaster. "

" This will give a double punch, "said a Okayama man at the Japanese public broadcaster NHK. "We are seriously worried."

Images show huge waves crashing on the rocks off the southwestern coast of Tokyo, and ferry services have been suspended.

Hundreds of flights were also canceled during the weekend as the storm approached the coast

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Floods July was Japan's worst climate disaster for decades and was quickly followed by an unprecedented heat wave that was declared a natural disaster.

At least 80 people were killed by temperature and more than 22,000 were hospitalized with heat stroke.

The country is now under the spell of typhoon season, which sees tropical tornadoes crossing the Pacific during the summer months.