Not Just Dorian: Tokyo And Koreas Lashed By Big Typhoons

Damage from Typhoon Faxai in Japan. Photo by Yomiuri Shimbun/AP

While it was all Dorian, Dorian, Dorian in the United States Bermuda and Canada for the past couple of weeks, the tropical storm season is causing some rough times in eastern Asia as well.

One of the strongest typhoons on record, named Faxai, hit yesterday. Tokyo's Heneda International Airport had gusts of 97 mph and there were reports of 130 mph gusts just east of Tokyo. 

This is one of the world's most heavily populated areas, so you know it's a mess. On the other hand. the Japanese are old pros at handling typhoons, so it will be interesting to see the outcome of this.

The Japan Times has reported at least three confirmed deaths, including that of a Tokyo woman caught on security camera being blown off her feet by the typhoon and slammed into a wall.

At least 40 others have been injured and there is widespread damage, the Japan Times says. 

Bullet train service and the Heneda airport closed during the typhoon Sunday, but both transportation hubs were up and running again by this morning, a testimony to how fast Japan can recover from typhoons.

Still, there were warnings of flooding and mudslides in the wake of Faxai.  Japanese meteorologists also warned of mid-summer like heat in the mid-90s due to tropical air brought northward by the typhoon.

Meanwhile, Typhoon Lingling made landfall on the Korean Peninsula Friday, leaving at least five dead and hightening fears of worsening food shortages in North Korea, the BBC reports. 

The typhoon cut power to 160,000 people in South Korea amid the top five strongest winds on record for a South Korean typhoon. North Korea reported numerous damaged homes and flooding.

Typhoons - the name for hurricanes in the western Pacific Ocean and eastern Asia - are quite common in Japan and to a lesser extent in South Korea. But both these storms were stronger than your average typhoon.

Video of Tokyo enduring Typhoon Faxai