Typhoon Talas dumps heavy rain in Japan

Powerful Typhoon
Talas left a trail of heavy rainfall
and mudslides as it moved
northward past Japan on Sunday.
At least six people have died and
20 others are missing, local media
said.
Evacuation orders and advisories
have been issued to 460,000
people in western and central
Japan, Kyodo News agency
reported.
NHK TV footage showed a bridge
that had been swept away after
intense rainfall, which caused a
river to swell with brown
torrents. People holding
umbrellas waded through knee-
deep water in city streets and
residential areas.
The center of the season's 12th
typhoon was moving north
across the Sea of Japan at a speed
slower than 12 miles per hour
(20 kph), the Japan
Meteorological Agency said. It
crossed the southern Japanese
island of Shikoku and the central
part of the main island of Honshu
overnight Sunday.
Because of the storm's slow
speed, the agency warned that
heavy rains and strong winds are
likely to continue and could lead
to flooding and landslides.
Three homes were buried in a
landslide in Wakayama prefecture,
and five people were still missing,
although a 14-year old girl was
rescued from the debris,
according to NHK.
Seven people were reported
missing in nearby Nara
Prefecture, after homes were
swept down a river, NHK said.
Among the dead were a woman
who appeared to be in her 30s
whose body was found in a river
in Ehime prefecture on Shikoku,
police said.
A 73-year-old man in Nara
prefecture died after a landslide
caused his house to collapse,
police said.