Severe Tropical Storm Maria makes landfall in Japan

This handout video screen grab taken and received from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism via Jiji Press shows the Sendai River swollen due to heavy rains, near the city of Tottori, Tottori prefecture on August 15, 2023, as Tropical Storm Lan hit the main island of Honshu overnight bringing much of the central part of the country to a standstill. The tropical storm, downgraded from a typhoon, slammed into Japan’s main island early on August 15, bringing violent gusts and downpours that have already caused rivers to surge and prompted landslide warnings. Agence France-Presse

TOKYO — Severe Tropical Storm Maria on Monday made landfall in northern Japan, dumping a month’s worth of rain in a day and forcing the cancellation of dozens of flights.

Maria, which was categorized as a “severe tropical storm”, a level below typhoon, made landfall around 8:30 am (2330 GMT) near Ofunato city in Iwate prefecture, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

The storm dumped 362 millimeters (14 inches) of rain in the 24 hours to Monday morning in Kuji city, the highest amount since the agency began keeping records in 1978.

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Maria was bringing gusts of up to 126 kilometers (78 miles) per hour and moving northwest at 15 kilometers per hour, the agency said.

It has forced cancellation of flights to the northern region, including 78 flights by Japan Airlines and flights by ANA, national broadcaster NHK said.