Four killed as powerful storm lashes Japan

A powerful storm with typhoon-strength winds and heavy rain halted air and train traffic in Tokyo and killed four people around the country, officials said.

The spring storm left the region Wednesday, but the Meteorological Agency urged caution as strong winds would persist in northern Japan. Winds of more than 144 kilometers (89 miles) per hour were recorded Tuesday as the storm swept across Japan's main island of Honshu.

Police reported four deaths: two people killed in warehouse collapses, an elderly man who fell off a roof in Iwate and a woman crushed by a fallen tree in Miyagi. Hundreds more were injured.

The storm had halted commuter train service and grounded more than 500 flights in and around Tokyo on Tuesday. Train service was running as normal today, but about 70 more flights were canceled.

At two nuclear power plants in northern Japan, cooling of a spent fuel storage pool temporarily stopped because of power failures but resumed in about 30 minutes without affecting safety, their operator Tohoku Electric Power Co. said.

The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant that suffered meltdowns at three reactors after last year's tsunami was unaffected by the storm.

AP