Japan typhoon leaves 19 dead

TOKYO, Oct 13 (AP): Kyodo News service has reported 19 people are dead and 16 are missing after Typhoon Hagibis caused massive flooding in Japan.

Kyodo's tally, which compiled various local reports, says about 100 people have been injured.

Government rescue teams have dispatched helicopters and boats to reach people stranded in flooded homes Sunday, part of a major rescue effort in wide areas of the country, including Tokyo and surrounding areas.

The casualty numbers continue to grow, and the Kyodo report is considerably higher than what the government spokesman gave earlier in the day.

Experts have warned from the start that assessing the damage is difficult because the flooding has struck about a dozen rivers, causing some of them to spill out in more than one spot.

Japan's chief government spokesman Yoshihide Suga says Typhoon Hagibis has left seven dead and 15 missing.

He says damage to housing from the flooding is extensive but promised recovery is on its way. Some 376,000 homes are without electricity, and 14,000 homes lack running water.

Boats as well as helicopters are being deployed to the flooded areas, while rescue crew are digging through dirt in other areas to try to get people out from homes buried by landslides.

Rescue efforts for people stranded in flooded areas are in full force after a powerful typhoon dashed heavy rainfall and winds through a widespread area of Japan, including Tokyo.

Typhoon Hagibis made landfall south of Tokyo Saturday and moved northward.

Public broadcaster NHK TV reported Sunday the typhoon had left three people dead, one person in cardiac arrest, 17 missing and 80 injured.

News footage showed a rescue helicopter hovering in a flooded area in Nagano Prefecture, after an embankment of the Chikuma River broke, plucking people from the second floor of a home submerged in muddy waters.

Several other rivers had also overflowed, including Tama River near Tokyo, according to NHK.

Authorities warned that the risk of mudslides remained.