
Typhoon hagibis
Typhoon Hagibis: Death toll rises as rescue efforts continue
The Japanese government said it would continue to watch out for secondary disasters due to the rain in the third day of rescue efforts and clean-up operations...
Typhoon Hagibis crashed into the country on Saturday night, unleashing high winds and torrential rain across 36 of the country's 47 prefectures, triggering landslides and catastrophic flooding.
The government put the death toll at 14, with 11 people missing, but local media said at least 26 people had been killed, and at least 15 were still unaccounted for.
Japan's military deployed 27,000 troops to aid rescue operations, including some in helicopters who winched people from the roofs and balconies of flooded homes in Nagano.
Japan's Meteorological Agency (JMA) warned that areas from the west to the northeast of the country would experience 'brutal winds and violent seas'.
A decision on the game in Yokohama will be made on Sunday when officials are able to assess the level of damage from Typhoon Hagibis, which has already forced the cancellation of two games due to be played on Saturday.
Originally scheduled to take place at 3pm on Saturday, the hour-long qualifying session that decides the grid order for the race will now be held at 10am on Sunday, a revised schedule issued by organisers showed.
With the huge storm set to potentially devastate parts of Japan, Italy’s game against New Zealand in Toyota and England’s match against France in Yokohama on Saturday have been cancelled.
The threat of extreme weather ahead of Typhoon Hagibis has led to the cancellation of two weekend games at the Rugby World Cup.
The typhoon is predicted to be one of the most violent tropical storms to hit the region in recent years and is expected to strike the Tokyo area this weekend.
Super Typhoon Hagibis is now projected to clip southeastern Japan, near Tokyo and Yokohama.
Japan's Meteorological Agency (JMA) is tracking Typhoon Hagibis, expected to develop into the highest level of 'violent,' which is due to start hitting the southern island of Kyushu around 12 October.