Two dead, three missing in Japan as powerful typhoon rips through country

Local residents are evacuated by boat from a house flooded by the heavy rains brought by Typhoon Talim, in Oita, southern Japan, on September 17, 2017. Kyodo via Reuters

Two people were killed and three left missing when a powerful typhoon ripped through the Japanese archipelago.

Typhoon Talim made landfall on Sunday in Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan's four main islands, packing winds of up to 162 kilometres per hour, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

The storm, moving north-east along the country, had reached the nation's northern island of Hokkaido by Monday morning, dumping torrential rain and paralysing domestic transportation on its way.

A 86-year-old woman was found dead late on Sunday after her house was hit by a landslide in Kagawa, western Japan, while a 60-year-old driver was found dead in his car which sank under a swollen river in Kochi, also in western Japan, local police officers said.

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Public broadcaster NHK said three people were missing in western Japan, and 38 people had been injured in storm-related accidents.

At least 116 domestic flights were cancelled on Monday because of strong winds, and some bullet train services were suspended in northern Japan, NHK said.

Authorities issued warnings of rainstorms, high seas, possible landslides and flooding across the nation, as the storm maintained its strength.

The typhoon battered the southern Okinawan island chain before it hit Kyushu, causing the most rain seen over a 24-hour period in 50 years in the city of Miyako.

Big storms regularly strike Japan, with 22 people killed when Typhoon Lionrock pounded the country last September.

Last month, Typhoon Noru killed two people and injured 51.