Death toll from Japan's Typhoon Jebi rises to 11; airport evacuated

Sept. 5 (UPI) -- The death toll from Japan's strongest typhoon in a quarter-century rose to 11 Wednesday, as thousands were evacuated from one of the region's busiest airports.

Typhoon Jebi traveled north-northwesterly toward Russia's Sakhalin Island Tuesday night. It made landfall in Japan's Tokushima Province, passed over water and hit again near Kobe.

The major bridge leading to Osaka's Kansai International Airport, used daily by 80,000 travelers, was nearly destroyed when the typhoon pushed a tanker ship into it.

More than 5,000 people spent the night in the airport before some were transferred by high-speed boat on Wednesday to Kobe's airport.

More than 200 flights affecting over 30,000 people were canceled at Kansai Airport, which is Japan's third-busiest airport and a major hub for visitors traveling from Asian countries. The figures regarding delays will increase, since the airport will be closed until a least Thursday.

Evacuation advisories were sent to over a million people in anticipation of the storm. Power was interrupted to about 1.6 million homes.

Meteorologists recorded wind gusts of up to 129 mph in one part of Shikoku, Japan's smallest main island, and 135 mph elsewhere. Nearly 20 inches of rain was projected to fall in central Japan in a 24-period ending Wednesday, and nearly 16 inches in the western part of the country.

Typhoon Jebi is the most severe storm to hit Japan since 1993, when 48 people died. The country has recently endured a succession of typhoons and disasters involving heavy rains, including massive flooding and landslides that left more than 220 people dead in July.