Typhoon No. 14 brings damage to southern Kyushu

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:18 JST, September 19, 2022

Powerful Typhoon No. 14 made landfall in the vicinity of Kagoshima City on Sunday night, bringing stormy weather and heavy rain centered around southern Kyushu that injured a number of people and caused damage to buildings.

In Miyazaki City early on Sunday the walls of the third and fourth floors on one side of a four-story building suddenly broke away.

“I heard a thumping sound and the building was shaking,” recalled a 78-year-old woman who lives on the first floor of the building in the Nakamuranishi district.

The woman said she heard the sound at about 1 a.m. Sunday as strong winds continued to blow during that time.

Her 73-year-old husband who runs a barber shop could only sigh.

“I will think about what to do with my shop after things settle down,” he said.

In the Kyoeicho district in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, several windows about 7-8 meters wide and 5 meters high in the facade of a pachinko parlor broke at about 9:10 a.m., exposing pachinko machines to outside air.

“I heard a howling sound and realized what was wrong,” the parlor’s manager said. “I felt I was in danger.”

In the Koraicho district in Kagoshima City, a crane was found bent at a condominium construction site at about 2 p.m. Sunday. As there was a possibility that the bent part of the crane would fall, the city’s fire department advised neighborhood residents to evacuate.

According to a Yomiuri Shimbun tally as of 10 p.m. Sunday, 18 people were injured in six prefectures: Ehime, Hiroshima, Kagoshima, Kochi, Kumamoto and Miyazaki. Among them, a man in his 50s was knocked down by strong wind while working at a supermarket in Nishinoomote, Kagoshima Prefecture, sustaining an injury to his head.