12:07 09Oct2004 RTRS-UPDATE 3-Typhoon strikes Tokyo, wreaks havoc on
transport

(Recasts with storm striking Tokyo, adds details)

TOKYO, Oct 9 (Reuters) - The most powerful typhoon to hit eastern Japan
in a decade pummelled Tokyo on Saturday, snarling transport at the start of
a long holiday weekend and forcing thousands in the countryside to evacuate.
Ma-on was the record ninth typhoon to hit Japan this year and the second
in two weeks. It left two people missing and forced the cancellation of
hundreds of flights, stranding thousands at the start of a three-day weekend
Around 2,400 people throughout Japan were evacuated from their homes,
seeking refuge in schools and public halls, Kyodo news agency said.
"The worst for Tokyo should be over quickly, although care must still be
taken of high winds and heavy rain for a little while," a Meteorological
Agency official said, as torrential rain and high winds lashed the capital
city.
The storm halted service on several subway lines and flooded streets in
parts of downtown Tokyo with knee-deep water.
"I really should have stayed at home," said a man struggling with his
umbrella in Tokyo's posh Ginza shopping district.
Some parts of central Tokyo were hit with as much as 69 mm (2.7 inches)
of rain in an hour, NHK national television said.
At least 87 international flights were cancelled along with hundreds of
domestic ones, it said.
The storm made landfall in Shizuoka, 150 km (93 miles) west of Tokyo.
Record strong gusts of 243 km (151 miles) an hour were recorded in one
Shizuoka town.
A 74-year-old newspaper delivery man on his rounds in Chiba was believed
to have been swept into a river and a man in his 60s was carried away by
rising floodwaters in Shizuoka, police and media reports said.
Several people were injured, including a man who broke both legs in a
fall from his roof while repairing it.
Television footage showed railway lines inundated by floodwaters and
cars bobbing in flooded streets in Shizuoka.
Ma-on, which means "horse saddle" in Cantonese, also forced the
postponement of qualifying for Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix motor racing
event to the morning of the competition, an unprecedented move taken after
the storm disrupted practice on Friday at Suzuka, around 300 km west of
Tokyo.
The Grand Prix will be held as scheduled.

HORRIBLE SCREECHING SOUND
Meteorological officials said the storm, which triggered several
landslides in central Japan, but without reports of injuries or major
damage, was the most powerful to hit eastern Japan in a decade.
"There was a horrible screeching sound of metal being twisted," one
woman whose house was damaged in a mudslide told NHK. "I can't believe this
has happened."
Previously classified as a maximum category 5 typhoon on an
international scale of 1 to 5, Ma-on weakened as it neared Japan, but was
still packing winds at its centre of up to 144 km (89 miles) an hour.
Since the approach of the storm was likely to coincide with high tide,
forecasters also warned of possible tidal surges.
Storms and floods have killed at least 72 people in Japan this year and
caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. The most recent, Meari,
killed 27 last week when it raked the archipelago with torrential rain,
setting off landslides.
Experts say Japan has suffered from an unusual number of storms due to
warmer offshore waters and weaker than normal Pacific high pressure areas.