Japan Ground Self-Defence Force soldiers take part in a rescue operation in Kiho town, Mie Prefecture, in this handout photo taken on September 4, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

OSAKA - The death toll from the powerful typhoon that hit western Japan has reached 34, while 56 remains missing, Kyodo News reported Monday.

 

Japanese Police, firefighters and the Self-Defense Forces resumed searching for the missing Monday in Nara and Wakayama prefectures that were hardest hit by the season's 12th typhoon and found the body of an 82-year-old man who went missing in the village of Totsukawa in Nara. Wakayama police said the bodies of five people were found in Shingu City.

The number of victims from Typhoon Talas could grow over a wide area including the Kii Peninsula, south of Osaka, as flooded rivers, damaged roads and mudslides hampered relief work, Kyodo quoted rescuers as saying.

The damage caused by Talas is the worst since Typhoon Tokage left a total of 98 people dead or missing in October 2004.

The typhoon also knocked out electricity and telephone lines in Mie, Nara and Wakayama prefectures, with roughly 194,000 households in the Kansai Electric Power Co.'s service area experiencing blackouts as of 3:00 pm local time  Monday.

About 36,000 fixed-line phones in the three prefectures were still disrupted as of 4:30 pm local time, NTT West Corp. said.

On Monday afternoon, the typhoon changed into an extratropical cyclone, although the Japan Meteorological Agency continued to issue warnings of heavy rain through Tuesday for Hokkaido Prefecture and its vicinity.

m.allmycbs.com