Typhoon injures 29 in Japan

TOKYO — A powerful typhoon pounded Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu today, grounding airplanes, halting trains and forcing thousands to evacuate their homes. News reports said 29 people were injured.

In the western part of the country, a magnitude 6.4 quake struck just days after two more powerful quakes injured 43 people.

Typhoon Songda, packing winds of up to 90 mph, hit the city of Nagasaki, about 640 miles southwest of Tokyo. It was a record seventh typhoon to hit Japan this year.

Across southern Japan, 17,200 people evacuated their homes and four houses were demolished by powerful gusts, public broadcaster NHK reported.

Overall, 29 people were injured by the typhoon, Kyodo News reported, without elaborating.

NHK reported 432 flights were canceled across southern Japan, while the main rail operator in Kyushu halted all train service.

Last week, Typhoon Chaba struck Japan, killing at least nine, injuring 204, and flooding more than 19,000 homes.

The Meteorological Agency warned residents to be on alert for landslides as the typhoon was arriving just two days after magnitude 6.9 and 7.4 earthquakes shook the western part of the country.

Today’s offshore jolt, centered near the epicenters of Sunday’s earthquakes, was felt most strongly in Wakayama prefecture, a relatively sparsely populated area about 280 miles west of Tokyo. The quake also shook the major cities of Kyoto and Osaka.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

“A series of magnitude 5 aftershocks could continue up to the next 10 days. They could cause tsunami waves, and I urge people to evacuate to higher ground,” public broadcaster NHK quoted Yoshinobu Tsuji, assistant professor at the University of Tokyo’s Earthquake Research Institute, as saying Monday.

Japan, which rests atop several tectonic plates, is among the world’s most earthquake-prone countries.