Officials on Thursday downgraded Typhoon Pabuk, the first to hit Japan's mainland in two years, to a tropical storm after it had killed seven people, flooded homes and thrown the transportation system into confusion.
Pabuk, with gusts at its center of around 68 mph when it crashed through southwestern Japan on Wednesday, also left two people missing and around 40 injured.
About 7,000 residents in Wakayama Prefecture, in western Japan where the storm first landed on Tuesday, were forced to evacuate from their flooded homes and shelter in public buildings.
The typhoon on Wednesday afternoon was the first to hit the Tokyo metropolitan area directly in three years, but it left little damage there, having lost much of its power by then.
The dead included a railway worker, electrocuted while removing branches from an overhead train cable, and a 56-year-old businessman killed by a falling tree, police said.
Among the missing is a 67-year-old fisherman who braved the weather to check if his boat was safe.
The storm, which whipped up high waves along the Pacific coast and heavy rains across much of Japan's main island of Honshu, sent the transportation system into disarray, forcing many travelers to reschedule their plans or wait for the typhoon to pass.
Bureau Report
