Japan orders evacuations as Typhoon Hagibis arrives

Hundreds of thousands of households in Japan were advised to evacuate due to fears of flooding as a powerful typhoon was set to make landfall late on Saturday, bringing with it the heaviest rain and winds in 60 years.

A man in his forties was killed in an overturned car early on Saturday in Chiba prefecture east of Tokyo, where high winds were reported, according to public broadcaster NHK. It said four other people were injured when roofs were blown off houses in the prefecture, which was hit hard by typhoon Faxai a month ago.

A number of municipal governments issued evacuation advisories to areas particularly at risk, including some in the most populous greater Tokyo region, according to public broadcaster NHK.

Typhoon Hagibis, which means “speed” in the Philippine language Tagalog, is due to make landfall on Japan’s main island of Honshu late on Saturday, a month after one of the strongest typhoons to hit the country in recent years destroyed or damaged 30,000 houses and caused extensive power outages.

Stores, factories and subway systems have been shut down as a precaution, while Japanese Formula One Grand Prix organisers cancelled all practice and qualifying sessions scheduled for Saturday. Two matches of the Rugby World Cup due to be played on Saturday were also cancelled.

Storm surges are expected along the Pacific coast of Honshu on Saturday and Sunday along with torrential rain, raising the risk of floods and landslides. Typhoon Ida, known as the “Kanogawa Typhoon” in Japanese, killed more than 1,000 people in 1958.