Severe Tropical Storm Maria makes landfall in Japan

Severe Tropical Storm Maria on Monday made landfall in northern Japan, having dumped more than two months worth of rain in the previous 24 hours and forcing the cancellation of dozens of flights.

Maria, which was categorised as a "severe tropical storm", a level below typhoon, made landfall around 8:30 am (2330 GMT Sunday) near Ofunato city in Iwate prefecture, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

There were no reports of injuries, according to the Iwate Prefecture government.

The region's municipalities issued various evacuation advisories and warnings to some 315,000 residents overnight, and around 2,000 spent the night at local shelters.

The storm dumped 362 millimetres (14 inches) of rain in the 24 hours to Monday morning in Kuji city, the highest amount since the agency began keeping records in 1978.

The area's average monthly rainfall for August is 177.9 millimetres, records showed.

"The residents in the affected region are advised to be vigilant about landslides, surging and flooding rivers and flooding in low-lying areas, as well as violent gusts and high waves," the weather agency said.

Maria was bringing gusts of up to 126 kilometres (78 miles) per hour and moving northwest at 15 kilometres per hour, the agency said.

It has forced cancellation of flights to the northern region. Japan Airlines said it cancelled 78 domestic flights, affecting 7,039 passengers. Its rival ANA cancelled eight flights, national broadcaster NHK said.

Some regional train services suspended their services, although the bullet train system continued its normal operations.

The storm was expected to cross Japan and head out to the Sea of Japan by Monday evening.