Typhoon Man-yi lashes southern Japan, injures dozens

TOKYO, July 14 (Reuters) A strong typhoon lashed southern Japan with high winds and heavy rain today, injuring dozens, causing power outages and forcing thousands to flee their homes.

Man-yi struck the southernmost main island of Kyushu after storming through the islands of Okinawa yesterday, moving northeast at 35 km per hour, the Meteorological Agency said.

With winds blowing at up to 216 km per hour, forecasters expected the typhoon to move along the coast of the southeastern island of Shikoku and the country's central region later in the day.

Fifty-six people had already been injured, including a 11-year-old boy who was unconscious after being swept away by a flooding river, NHK television said.

News footage showed heavy rain pounding on empty streets and workers mopping floors at railway stations.

NHK said several houses and a post office had collapsed under a landslide in Kagoshima prefecture, while strong winds and landslides had damaged dozens of homes in other areas.

Local officials advised more than 15,000 households to evacuate amid warnings of more flooding and landslides. Around 12,000 people fled to evacuation centres on their own.

''We're worried. We don't want to stay home,'' one elderly evacuee told NHK.

Train services in Kyushu were halted, highways closed and more than 590 flights cancelled, Kyodo news agency said, disrupting travel for many during a three-day holiday weekend.

Around 29,700 homes in Kyushu suffered power blackouts, an official at Kyushu Electric Power said.

The storm was classified as a category 2 typhoon by British-based Web site Tropical Storm Risk (www.tropicalstormrisk.com), down from category 4 yesterday.

Man-yi was expected to brush by Tokyo late tomorrow, bringing heavy rain and winds, before veering off into the Pacific Ocean on Monday.

REUTERS CS SSC1619