Typhoon buffets southwestern Japan

TOKYO, Aug 2 (Reuters) A typhoon packing strong winds and heavy rain pounded the island of Kyushu in southern Japan today, toppling trees, cutting power to 20,000 homes and forcing cancellation of scores of flights.

Typhoon Usagi, the second big storm to strike Japan in less than a month, delivered winds gusting up to 180 km per hour (112 mph), the Meteorological Service said. Usagi means rabbit in Japanese.

Television pictures showed waves from the typhoon crashing over seawalls and a bus shelter with a glass wall torn off.

The storm left 10 people injured, including a 42-year-old man who fell from his roof, NHK television said, but so far damage has been relatively light.

''The sign to our parking lot split in two after being blown by the wind,'' said Tadahiro Kai, a hotel worker in Hyuga, on Kyushu's east coast.

''Outer walls to houses in the neighbourhood have been damaged and some roof tiles are scattered on the street.'' Last month, Typhoon Man-yi struck Kyushu and killed three people, injured more than 70 and flattened several houses.

The Meteorological Agency said that by 1520 IST the centre of the typhoon was near Hyuga, around 890 km southwest of Tokyo, moving north northwest at around 25 kph.

In Kyushu and the southeastern island of Shikoku, 20,000 homes were without electricity, local power companies said. NHK reported the suspension of high-speed bullet train services and cancellation of around 240 domestic flights.

Some 4,600 households in southeastern Japan had been advised to evacuate, while 3,400 households left voluntarily.

''Several people in the neighbourhood have evacuated to our hotel, some elderly living alone and others with children,'' hotel worker Hiromi Kaneko said by telephone from the city of Miyazaki.

''They feel safer in a place where other people are around.'' Usagi is expected to beat a path across Kyushu and then head northeast, fading into a tropical storm in the sea of Japan before striking northern Japan at the weekend.

REUTERS PD HT1727