Japanese airlines cancel 120 flights as storms Mekkhala and Higos approach, evacuations ordered in Kyoto, Toyota and Nissan halt output, Taiwan hit by floods and landslides
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Japanese airlines cancelled more than 100 flights on Friday as two tropical storms barrelled towards the archipelago, with authorities advising evacuations in some areas because of possible flooding and landslides.
Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways cancelled a total of 120 flights to and from the southern regions of Okinawa and Kagoshima.
The Kyoto region advised several thousand residents to evacuate, warning of potential landslides, as footage from public broadcaster NHK showed a raging brown river running through the area.
Officials in Kyoto and Osaka said water levels in rivers were rising and warned that vigilance was required because of the threat of flooding.
Automaker Toyota suspended operations at a plant in Kyushu because of road closures caused by heavy rain, while Nissan also said it planned to halt some production lines, Kyodo News reported.
The Japanese military also cancelled the planned maiden flight of a V-22 Osprey transport aircraft to Miyako Island that was part of joint exercises with the United States, Kyodo said.
In Taiwan, more than 1,600 people were evacuated from their homes, and schools and offices were shut in several areas, as Mekkhala triggered torrential rain, floods and landslides across the island.
No casualties were recorded, but authorities warned on Friday of potentially dangerous debris flows in mountainous areas of Hualien county in the east as well as in Kaohsiung and Pingtung in the south, where the weather forecasting agency said as much as 88cm (34.6 inches) of rain had fallen since Thursday.
Scores of people living downstream from a recently detected barrier lake in a rugged area of Hualien have left their homes, a local official said. Some train lines were suspended.
