Tokyo - One person died and another was missing as a powerful typhoon battered southern Japan, disrupting traffic and causing massive power outages in the region, news reports said on Monday.
An 83-year-old man died on Sunday after falling from the roof of his house in Nagasaki as he was preparing for Typhoon Sanba, the 16th of the season, the Kyodo News agency reported.
A 29-year-old man was missing after snorkelling off the coast of Ishigaki Island in Okinawa prefecture, Kyodo said, as high waves hit the coast.
As of 10am (01h00 GMT), Sanba was 110km west of the coast of Tsushima, Nagasaki prefecture, travelling toward the Korean Peninsula at 30km/h, the Meteorological Agency said.
The typhoon had maximum sustained winds of 162km/h and gusts of 216km/h, the agency said.
The agency warned of further strong winds and high waves in wide areas of the southern island of Kyushu and western Japan.
Rainfall of up to 400mm was forecast for the south-western island of Shikoku by Tuesday morning, and up to 300mm for the Tokai region, the agency said.
Typhoon Sanba slammed into Okinawa and neighbouring islands on Sunday, bringing downpours and strong winds and knocking out power to more than 100 000 households in Okinawa and Kyushu, while hundreds of flights were cancelled, Kyodo reported. - Sapa-dpa