A powerful typhoon hit Japan's southernmost island of Okinawa Friday, with high winds forcing hundreds of residents to to seek shelter, suspending flights and disrupting power in the region, REPORTED DPA. At least 23 people were injured and more than 100,000 residents in Okinawa prefecture were left without electricity Friday morning as Typhoon Man-yi lashed the island. The storm forced the cancellation of 377 domestic flights. Some 105 houses were flooded in the rain and overflowing rivers caused by this season's fourth typhoon. The typhoon was moving north Friday afternoon, packing winds of up to 252 kilometres per hour. It was expected to bring heavy rain and strong winds to western Japan Saturday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. Some municipal offices in Okinawa were forced to close polling stations set up for people to cast absentee ballots ahead of the July 29 House of Councillors election. The government set up a liaison office in Tokyo in preparation for possible typhoon-linked disasters. Earlier in the week, heavy rainfall killed at least two in the southern region of Kyushu. The agency recorded more than 400 millimetres of rainfall in the southern part of Kyushu Friday and warned that some regions may accumulate up to 1,000 millimetres by Saturday morning. In Okinawa, a 78-year-old man remained in a coma after being knocked down by a strong winds and hitting his head on the ground, while a 47-year-old woman hurt her head being tripped by a wind. Roofs were blown off, houses collapsed in landslides and thousands of households have been warned to evacuate to shelters in Kyushu.
