Two Dead in Taiwan as Twin Storms Lash Japan, Prompt Mass Evacuations
A 73-year-old woman drowned in Kaohsiung, Taiwan’s southern port city, and a 49-year-old woman was found dead inside a submerged car in Hsinchu County as torrential rains from Severe Tropical Storm Mekkhala pounded the island. A 65-year-old man remained missing in Hsinchu after checking on his farmland, authorities said Saturday.
In Japan, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency advised more than one million people to leave their homes as Mekkhala—downgraded from a typhoon but still packing gusts of up to 108 km/h (67 mph)—approached the archipelago. The storm is expected to sweep across Kyushu, Shikoku, and Honshu through the weekend, threatening densely populated areas including Osaka, Nagoya, and Tokyo.
Forecasters warned that Mekkhala could converge with Tropical Storm Higos, churning further out in the Pacific, triggering the so-called Fujiwhara effect—when two storms interact, making their tracks and intensities harder to predict. “There is a risk of extremely heavy rain at warning levels,” government spokesman Minoru Kihara told reporters, adding that one person had been seriously injured and three others suffered minor injuries, with dozens of buildings flooded, mainly in Kagoshima Prefecture.
Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways canceled a total of 120 flights to and from Okinawa and Kagoshima. Toyota suspended operations at a plant in Kyushu due to road closures, while Nissan planned to halt some production lines, according to Kyodo News. Officials in Kyoto and Osaka reported rising river levels and warned of potential flooding.
In Taiwan, more than 1,600 people were evacuated, schools and offices shut in several areas, and some train lines were suspended. Authorities warned of dangerous debris flows in mountainous regions of Hualien, Kaohsiung, and Pingtung, where the weather agency recorded up to 88 cm (34.6 inches) of rain since Thursday. The twin-storm scenario, while not unprecedented, highlights the region’s vulnerability to compounding weather disasters during the active typhoon season.