The strongest storm in a decade approached Tokyo

Wipha, the most powerful storm in the past 10 years, is threatening Tokyo, after causing landslides that left at least three people dead and many houses on a Japanese island buried.

About 30 people went missing after five houses were destroyed or washed away by successive landslides and floods on Oshima island, 120 kilometers south of Tokyo, NHK reported. Two bodies were found in a fast-flowing river, while another victim was pulled from a collapsed house.

The east coast of Japan is expected to face winds of 120km / h and waves of up to 12 meters this morning.(Photo: Xinhua)

Rescue workers rescued two people stranded in a house around 8 am this morning, but police and firefighters could not reach many areas.

Calls to Oshima police were unanswered, but the live images from the island showed that Wipha storms had severely damaged the tourist island famous for camellia. Soil mud, broken trees and rubbish piled up around houses, while many people panicked to seek shelter in evacuation centers.

The weather agency warned that the storm could hit the populated Kanton region, including Tokyo, at the end of the morning. The east coast of Japan is expected to face winds of 120km / h and waves as high as 12 meters, while rainfall up to 300mm is expected to fall around Tokyo area.

The meteorological agency said it was the strongest storm in a decade into the Tokyo area, leaving millions of people at home. Before the storm, Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines had canceled a total of 45 flights, affecting 4,350 passengers. More than 350 domestic and international flights will continue to be destroyed when the storm hits, affecting 30,500 more passengers. East Japan Railways will also postpone 31 high-speed trains to avoid storms.

Wipha's expected path.(Graphic: AFP)

Typhoon Wipha is moving north, towards the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), which operates the plant, said it is urgently taking measures to cope with the storm, after a series of water leakage.

"We will check places where there may be water leaks from the storm," a company spokesman said. He added that cables and pipelines have been tightened together, while works on land and offshore are postponed.