Japan flight chaos as twin storms Mekkhala and Higos ground over 100 flights

TOKYO, June 26 — Japanese airlines cancelled more than 100 flights on Friday as two tropical storms barrelled towards the archipelago, with authorities advising evacuations in some areas because of possible flooding and landslides.

Severe tropical storm Mekkhala was downgraded from a typhoon but still carried gusts of up to 144 kilometres (89 miles) per hour, according to forecasters, with heavy rain already pounding parts of southern and western Japan.

The weather system was expected to skirt the islands of Kyushu and Shikoku over the weekend and potentially converge with tropical storm Higos, which was also swirling further out in the Pacific.

That could result in the atmospheric phenomenon known as the Fujiwhara effect when two storms interact, making forecasting their movements and strengths more difficult.

Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways cancelled a total of 120 flights to and from the southern regions of Okinawa and Kagoshima.

The Kyoto region advised several thousand residents to evacuate, warning of potential landslides, as footage from public broadcaster NHK showed a raging brown river running through the area.

Officials in Kyoto and Osaka said water levels in rivers were rising and warned that vigilance was required because of the threat of flooding.

Automaker Toyota suspended operations at a plant in Kyushu because of road closures caused by heavy rain, while Nissan also said it planned to halt some production lines, Kyodo News reported.

The Japanese military also cancelled the planned maiden flight of a V-22 Osprey transport aircraft to Miyako Island that was part of joint exercises with the United States, Kyodo said.

In Taiwan, more than 1,600 people were evacuated from their homes, and schools and offices were shut in several areas, as Mekkhala triggered torrential rain, floods and landslides across the island.

No casualties were recorded, but authorities warned on Friday of potentially dangerous debris flows in mountainous areas of Hualien county in the east as well as in Kaohsiung and Pingtung 

in the south, where the weather forecasting agency said as much as 88cm (34.6 inches) of rain had fallen since Thursday.

Scores of people living downstream from a recently detected barrier lake in a rugged area of Hualien have left their homes, a local official said. Some train lines were suspended. — AFP