Typhoon Fitow batters Tokyo, moves on

Environmental News Network, via Reuters: [Typhoon Fitow] pounded Tokyo and surrounding areas on Friday, killing at least one man and snarling transport and power supplies, before weakening and moving north. The typhoon, the biggest to hit Tokyo since October 2002, brought down record rainfall in many parts of the capital, but by afternoon it had weakened to a tropical storm.

Rescue workers searched for homeless people swept away by a swollen Tama river as they slept in shacks along its banks in western Tokyo.

…Bedraggled commuters struggled to get to work on Friday with some expressways closed and trains, including high-speed bullet services, delayed or cancelled on many lines. About 10 million people commute to work or school in Tokyo. Some travelers blamed climate change.

"It's rare for Tokyo to get hit directly like this," said Miho Kaido, a 36-year-old tourist who came by taxi to Tokyo station to catch a bus to Aomori in northern Japan. "The worst thing is that the trains are not running. I think global warming is having an impact and making the weather more severe." About 23,600 households were still without electricity in Tokyo on Friday afternoon, NHK said.