Typhoon Wipha Slams Japan, at Least 17 Dead, Radioactive Water Released at Fukushima

Typhoon Wipha blew across Japan Wednesday, leaving at least 17 dead and dozens more missing, but the storm largely spared Tokyo and caused no new disaster at the damaged Fukushima nuclear power station.

Most of the dead were found on the island of Izu-Oshima, which lies within the Tokyo metropolitan jurisdiction, although it is 120 kilometers south of mainland Tokyo. A record-breaking 80 centimeters of rain fell on the island in 24 hours, the most since record-keeping began in 1991.

Mudslides caused by the typhoon, which hit the island with the power of a Category 1 hurricane, killed most of the 16 reported dead on Izu-Oshima, while dozens of homes on the island were destroyed. Forty-five people are missing there, according to The Associated Press.

"People on this island are somewhat used to heavy rainstorms, but this typhoon was beyond our imagination," Yutaka Sagara, a 59-year-old sushi chef, told the AP by phone after spending a sleepless night on the island huddled together with his colleagues.

Fourteen people were injured across multiple prefectures, the Kyodo news service reported, adding that two 12-year-old boys in Kanagawa Prefecture were carried away by high waves as they played on the coast. They remain missing.

In Tokyo a woman drowned after being swept up by a river and washed 6 miles downstream.

Air travel and bullet train services were heavily disrupted by the storm.

In Fukushima, where the crippled Dai-ichi nuclear power station sits along the coast, no new disaster was caused by the passing storm.

The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tecpo) said it was forced to release about 40 tons of low-level radioactive water from temporary holding tanks as water from the typhoon accumulated. The water released was reportedly well below the legal threshold for releasing contaminated water into the sea, Kyodo news said.

The typhoon continued on a northerly course and is expected to be downgraded to an extratropical cyclone as it turns back out toward the Pacific Ocean.