Typhoon batters Tokyo, rescuers fear for homeless

TOKYO, Sep 7 (Reuters) A typhoon pounded Tokyo and surrounding areas today, killing at least one man and prompting a flood warning, while snarled transport and power cuts affected thousands.

The typhoon, the biggest to hit Tokyo since October 2002, brought down record rainfall in many parts of the capital, but by late morning it had weakened to a tropical storm.

Rescue workers searched for homeless people swept away by a swollen Tama river as they slept in shacks along its banks in western Tokyo.

Many were winched to safety by helicopters, although local officials said they were not sure how many others had been living along the river bank. Kyodo news agency said a total of 29 people were rescued.

By noon, the worst of Typhoon Fitow, whose name means "beautiful fragrant flower" in a Micronesian language, had passed to the north of Tokyo. The flood warning for the Tama river was lifted and train service in the capital had mostly returned to normal.

The eye of the storm was near the city of Yonezawa in northern Yamagata prefecture, some 230 km north of the capital, bringing with it winds gusting to 108 km an hour, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

It was heading north-northeast at 35 km a hour.

During the night, a 76-year-old man was killed by a falling tree northwest of Tokyo, local police said. At least 53 people have been injured, NHK television said.

Bedraggled commuters struggled to get to work with some expressways closed and trains, including high-speed bullet services, delayed or cancelled on many lines. About 10 million people commute to work or school in the city.

Some travellers blamed climate change.

"It's rare for Tokyo to get hit directly like this," said Miho Kaido, a 36-year-old tourist who came by taxi to Tokyo station to catch a bus to Aomori in northern Japan. "The worst thing is that the trains are not running. I think global warming is having an impact and making the weather more severe." About 80,000 households were without electricity throughout Japan as of 9:00 a.m. (0530 hrs IST), the government said.

Television showed the capital's Haneda airport crowded with people, some sleeping in huddles, as they waited for flights to resume after hundreds were cancelled from Thursday onwards.

In central Tokyo, tree branches and leaves littered the streets and broken umbrellas were snagged in fences and under parked cars after the stormy night, as clean-up crews moved methodically in the rain to remove the debris.

In July, a typhoon killed three people and injured more than 70 when it hit the southern island of Kyushu and moved along the country's eastern coastline.

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