Hossen Sohel: A major airport that was cut off when a huge typhoon smashed through its sole access road was being evacuated yesterday, as Japan grappled with devastation caused by its most powerful storm in a quarter of a century, reports AFP.
Boats were ferrying stranded passengers from Kansai International Airport — one of the country’s busiest — after thousands of people were forced to spend the night in the partially flooded facility.
At least ten people were killed, and hundreds more injured by Typhoon Jebi as it raked through the major manufacturing area around Osaka — Japan’s second city — wrecking infrastructure and destroying homes.
Winds up to 216 kilometres (135 miles) per hour ripped off roofs, overturned trucks on bridges and swept a 2,500-ton tanker into a bridge leading to the airport, the region’s main international gateway and a national transport hub.
The damage to the bridge left the artificial island cut off, stranding 3,000 travellers and additional staff overnight.
Runways were flooded as high waves washed into the facility on Tuesday, knocking out electricity and inundating buildings.
By Wednesday lunchtime several hundred people had been ferried to Kobe on a specially chartered boat, but more than two thousand were still awaiting rescue.
There was no indication yet when the airport, which runs over 400 flights a day, might reopen.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, tweeting on his official account, said the government was working to get the airport back online.
More than 1.2 million people had been advised to leave their homes as Jebi approached the Kansai area — Japan’s industrial heartland. Around 16,000 people spent the night in shelters, local media said.
Japan is regularly hit by powerful typhoons in the summer and autumn, many of which cause flooding and landslides in rural areas.