Kyodo News service reports that 19 people are dead and 16 are missing after Typhoon Hagibis caused massive flooding in Japan.
Helicopters plucked people from their flooded homes on Sunday as rescue efforts went into full force in wide areas of Japan.
Public broadcaster N
HK gave a toll of 128 injured as more details were coming in the from field, a day after Typhoon Hagibis made landfall south of Tokyo and moved northward.
“The major typhoon has caused immense damage far and wide in eastern Japan,” government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters, adding that 27,000 military troops and other rescue crews were deployed for the operation.
News footage showed a rescue helicopter hovering in a flooded area in Nagano prefecture where an embankment of the Chikuma River broke, and streams of water were continuing to spread over residential areas.
The helicopter plucked those stranded on the second floor of a home submerged in muddy waters.
Meanwhile, rows of Japan’s bullet trains, parked in a facility, were sitting in a pool of water.
A stretch of Fukushima, in the city of Date, was also flooded with only rooftops of residential homes visible in some areas.
Parts of nearby Miyagi prefecture were also under water.
Suga said that damage to housing from the flooding was extensive but promised recovery was on its way.
Around 376,000 homes were without electricity, and 14,000 homes lacked running water, he said.
Boats as well as helicopters were sent to the flooded areas, while rescue crew dug through dirt in other areas to try to get people out from homes buried by landslides.
Several train service in the Tokyo area resumed early on Sunday morning, although others were undergoing safety checks and were expected to restart later on.
