Typhoon Roke death toll rises to 11

TOKYO, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- The death toll from a typhoon that hit Japan this week climbed to 11 Thursday, with five people still missing, officials say.

Typhoon Roke weakened into an extratropical cyclone Thursday afternoon and as it moved over Hokkaido, Kyodo News reported.

Workers throughout the country worked Wednesday to reinforce river embankments with sandbags, Daily Yomiuri reported.

At the Nagatogawa River, about 6,000 sandbags were piled along the embankments.

Kinki Regional Development Bureau said two landslide dams, in Gojo, Nara prefecture, and Tanabe, Wakayama prefecture, created by Roke, partially ruptured Wednesday. A third landslide dam in Nosegawamura, Nara prefecture, may also burst, the bureau said.

The typhoon hit mainland Japan Wednesday, disrupting transportation networks in Tokyo, CNN reported.

The storm carried winds as high as 103 mph and caused widespread flooding.

Roke, the 15th typhoon to hit Japan this year, comes as the country is still recovering from the March tsunami and earthquake that killed more than 15,000 people.