Nine bodies were recovered Wednesday after the Omoto River burst its banks and flooded a nursing home in the town of Iwaizumi, Iwate Prefecture, police said.
Broadcaster NHK showed a rescue helicopter landing on the facility’s roof as tree trunks and mud lay piled up around the building.
A body was also found lying among storm debris in the city of Kuji in the prefecture, they said.
Powerful Typhoon Lionrock battered the area on Tuesday, bringing strong wind, heavy rain and the fear of mudslides.
The typhoon was the season’s 10th. As it approached, municipalities in Tohoku issued evacuation advisories for around 410,000 people due to the risk of landslides and wave damage along the coast.
The storm made landfall near Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, on Tuesday evening. It then struck neighboring Aomori Prefecture before heading out into the Sea of Japan.
It was the first typhoon to strike Tohoku from the Pacific since records began in 1951.
More than 100 domestic flights and over 50 shinkansen services were canceled.
The city of Miyako in Iwate Prefecture had 80 mm of rainfall in one hour, a local record.
The typhoon forced many manufacturers, including Toyota Motor Corp., to suspend operations at factories in the region for the safety of their workers.
Source: Japan Times Image: ANN
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