Deadly Typhoon Shanshan hits southwest Japan, millions ordered to evacuate

Millions of people were told to evacuate from their homes as Typhoon Shanshan lashed southwest Japan with strong winds and heavy rain on Thursday, knocking out power, snarling air traffic and forcing major factories to close.

Believed to be one of the strongest ever storms to hit the region, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a news conference that three people have already died and one was missing in incidents related to the typhoon, while the disaster management agency said 45 had suffered injuries.

WATCH | Typhoon Shanshan pummels southwest Japan in strongest storm ever:

Powerful storm whips up winds in southern Japan

Typhoon Shanshan brought raging winds and torrential rain to the city of Makurazaki in southern Japan.

Major automaker Toyota suspended operations in all of its domestic plants due to the storm, while Nissan, Honda, chipmakers Renesas and Tokyo Electron also temporarily halted production at some factories.

Funeral parlour employee Tomoki Maeda was in a hearse when the typhoon struck in Miyazaki city in southern Kyushu island, shattering windows and tearing down walls of some buildings.

“I’ve never experienced such a strong wind or tornado in my 31 years of life,” Maeda told Reuters.

Bringing gusts of around 180 km/h, strong enough to blow over moving trucks, the typhoon was near Unzen city in Nagasaki prefecture at 3 p.m. and moving northward, according to the weather agency.

more than 200,000 households in seven prefectures were without power in the afternoon, according to Kyushu Electric Power Co. The utility earlier said there was no impact at its Sendai Nuclear Power Plant in Satsumasendai city, where the storm made landfall earlier on Thursday.

After hovering over Kyushu for the next few days, the storm is expected to approach the central and eastern regions, including the capital Tokyo, around the weekend, the weather agency said.

IN PHOTOS | Typhoon Shanshan lashes Japan:

More than 5.2 million people have been issued evacuation notices across the country, authorities said, mainly in Kyushu but also in some areas of central Japan, which have been hit by heavy rain that triggered a landslide on Wednesday.

Madoka Kubo, who runs a hotel in historic city of Hitoyoshi in Kumamoto prefecture, told Reuters that all reservations had been cancelled and her hotel was now being used to house elderly people who had been evacuated from nearby areas.

Airlines, including ANA Holdings and Japan Airlines, have already announced cancellations of nearly 800 flights.

Train services have been suspended in many areas of Kyushu while hundreds of bus and ferry services have also been halted, according to the transport ministry.

Typhoon Shanshan is the latest harsh weather system to hit Japan, following Typhoon Ampil, which also led to blackouts and evacuations, earlier this month.