Powerful Typhoon Shanshan slams into southern Japan

One of the strongest typhoons to hit Japan in decades dumped torrential rain across southern regions on Thursday, with authorities warning of life-threatening flooding and landslides.

Typhoon Shanshan packed gusts of up to 252 kilometres (157 miles) per hour as it smashed into Japan's main southern island of Kyushu early Thursday, making it the most powerful storm this year and one of the strongest at landfall since 1960.

After making landfall gusts eased to 198 kph.

Three people were killed in a landslide on Tuesday night as heavy rains from the approaching typhoon pummelled the area.

Authorities issued their highest alert in places, advising hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate.

The coastal city of Miyazaki, littered with debris from nearly 200 damaged buildings, reported 25 injuries -- including some from a tornado.

Broadcaster NHK said 59 people were injured in the Kyushu region, and a man on a small boat was missing off nearby Kagoshima prefecture.

Worried student Aoi Nishimoto, 18, said he had called his family in Miyazaki to see if they were alright.

"Our home is fine, but there was a tornado in Miyazaki and power went out in some places. It's worrying," he told AFP in Kyushu's main city of Fukuoka.

"This year, I am away from my parents' home for the first time. So it's a bit scary being all alone," fellow student Rio Ohtsuru, 19, told AFP.

"Maybe I will look for a flashlight in case of a power outage," she said.

Kyushu's utility operator said 235,760 houses were without power elsewhere on the island.

- Slow and wet -

In the city of Usa, retiree Fukashi Oishi looked forlornly at an old tree opposite his house that was already mature when he was a child but had snapped and fallen on the road.

"Oh, it's so sad," he told AFP.

The weather system was moving slowly, which often means more rain, with the weather office forecasting it would gradually rumble towards Japan's main island Honshu and the cities of Osaka and Nagoya, although this could change.

The Japan Meteorological Office warned that "the risk of a disaster due to heavy rain can rapidly escalate in western Japan as Friday approaches".

For Kagoshima, the JMA issued "special warnings of violent storms, high waves and high tides".

"Please exercise maximum vigilance against violent storms, high waves and high tides in Kagoshima, as well as landslides, flooding in low-lying areas and overflowing rivers in southern Kyushu," it said.

For southern Kyushu, the JMA predicted a staggering 1,100 millimetres (43 inches) of rain in the 48 hours to Friday morning.

Heavy rain brought by Shanshan has been lashing large parts of Japan since Tuesday.

Three members of a family died after a landslide buried a house in Gamagori, a city in central Aichi prefecture, late Tuesday, local media reported.

They were a couple in their 70s and their son in his 30s, while two adult daughters in their 40s survived with injuries, Kyodo News reported.

- Toyota halt -

Auto giant Toyota suspended production at all 14 of its factories in Japan. Nissan and Honda also halted operations at their Kyushu plants, reports said.

Japan Airlines and ANA cancelled more than 500 domestic flights for Thursday and Friday, affecting almost 40,000 passengers.

Rail operators suspended Shinkansen bullet trains on and Kyushu and said services would be disrupted elsewhere on Friday.

Shanshan comes in the wake of Typhoon Ampil, which dumped heavy rain that disrupted hundreds of flights and trains this month but caused only minor injuries and damage.

Typhoons in the region have been forming closer to coastlines, intensifying more rapidly and lasting longer over land due to climate change, according to a study released last month.

Another released by World Weather Attribution (WWA) on Thursday said that climate change turbocharged Typhoon Gaemi, which killed dozens of people across the Philippines, Taiwan and China earlier this year,