Floods Kill Two in Taiwan as Twin Storms Approach Japan
Japanese airlines canceled more than 100 flights and authorities ordered evacuations as the storms threatened floods and landslides across the archipelago.
- On Friday, June 26, 2026, Tropical Storm Mekkhala skirted Taiwan, unleashing torrential rain that disrupted services for over 5 million people before barrelling toward the Japanese archipelago.
- Forecasters downgraded Mekkhala from a typhoon to a severe tropical storm, yet it retained gusts up to 144 kph as it approached Tropical Storm Higos, potentially triggering the Fujiwhara effect and complicating movement forecasts.
- Authorities in Japan ordered 2.2 million residents to evacuate across 13 prefectures, while airlines cancelled more than 200 flights and suspended train services amid high-level landslide and flood warnings.
- Taiwan reported two storm-related deaths, including a 73-year-old woman swept away in Kaohsiung and a 49-year-old woman found in a submerged car in Hsinchu county. Top government spokesman Minoru Kihara said Japan recorded one seriously injured and three with minor injuries.
- Hualien County officials evacuated nearly 200 residents downstream of a rapidly filling barrier lake after warnings that it could overflow within 48 hours, echoing 2025 precedent when 19 people died during Super Typhoon Ragasa.
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129 Articles
The tropical storm Mekkhala and an extratropical cyclone keep on alert areas of eastern and western Japan, where authorities maintain evacuation orders for 191,403 people and report at least seven injured.According to the Japan Weather Agency (JMA), Mekkhala was this Saturday south of Cape Muroto, about 750 kilometers south-west of Tokyo, and was advancing north-east at 50 km/h.The system records sustained winds of 72 km/h near its center and ma…
Two tropical storms bring heavy rains to parts of Japan causing...
Two tropical storms were bringing heavy rains to parts of Japan on Saturday, with Level 4 landslide warnings issued for areas of Kanagawa and Chiba prefectures, just a day after a powerful earthquake shook Yamanashi Prefecture. The Level 4 warning issued by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) is the second-highest, which means that the risk of landslide is extremely high and people should evacuate from affected areas. The Level 4 warnings were…
Observador
IOL PortugalThe Mekkhala storm, with bursts that can reach 144 kilometers per hour (km/h), was off the west coast of the remote island of Amami, in southern Japan, at the end of Friday afternoon.
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