Jebi batters Japan

The strongest typhoon to hit Japan in 25 years battered the west of the country yesterday with violent winds and heavy rain, killing six and injuring scores more. Powerful gusts ripped sheeting from rooftops, overturned trucks on bridges and swept a tanker anchored in Osaka Bay into a bridge to Kansai International Airport.

The damage to the bridge left the airport cut off from the mainland and stranded around 3,000 people there, an official said. The airport was now conducting safety tests on the undamaged section of the bridge, the official said, but it remained unclear when the passengers could leave.

High waves whipped up by the storm also flooded parts of the airport, where all flights were cancelled, and the severe weather caused power outages and travel chaos across much of the country. Typhoon Jebi made landfall around noon, slamming into the west of the country with winds of up to 216 kilometres (135 miles) per hour.

The fast-moving storm quickly crossed the mainland, and by nightfall was heading out to sea from Ishikawa in central Japan.