POWERFUL TYPHOON KILLS 9, SHUTTERS AIRPORT IN JAPAN

The toll in the most powerful typhoon to hit Japan in a quarter century rose Wednesday to nine, with thousands of strikes at a major airport because of storm damage.

Typhoon Jebi bringing about maximum winds of 216 kilometers   (135 miles) an hour and heavy rain.

The powerful gusts ripped sheeting from rooftops, overturned trucks on bridges and swept a 2,591-ton tanker anchored in Osaka Bay into Kansai International Airport.

The damage to the bridge left the airport, which is on an artificial island, cut off from the mainland, and around 3,000 people were stranded at the facility overnight, a transport ministry official told AFP.

Parts of the airport's runways were whipped up by the storm washed into the facility.

On Wednesday morning, the boat service was ferrying people from the Kobe airport, the transport ministry official said.

But there is no indication yet when the airport, which runs over 400 flights a day, might reopen. 

"We have a blackout so there was no air conditioning. It was hot," a woman transported to Kobe Airport, told NHK public broadcaster Wednesday.

"I'd never expect this extent of damage from a typhoon."

NHK said the toll in the storm stood at nine, with Jiji's news agency saying five of the dead were in Osaka prefecture.

Hundreds more were injured, mostly by flying debris, local media said.

Evacuation advisories were issued for more than 1.22 million people as of Wednesday morning, while another 29,600 people under stronger, though still not mandatory, evacuation orders, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said.

And 16,000 people spent the night in the shelters across 20 prefectures, Jiji reported.

WINDS BRING DOWN ROOF

The fast moving typhoon left land on Tuesday night, moving offshore from the central Ishikawa region, but it left a trail of destruction in its wake.

In Kyoto, it brought down the ceiling of the tourist magnet's main station, and in Osaka, the high winds of a scaffolding from a multi-story building.

Footage on NHK showed a 100-meter (328-foot) tall ferris wheel in Osaka spinning furiously in the strong wind despite being switched off.

"I've never seen such a thing," a 19-year-old man at the scene told NHK.

Up to some 2.3 million households suffered blackouts and businesses, factories and schools in the affected area shut down while the storm crossed the country.

Nearly 800 flights were canceled, including several international flights departing and arriving at Nagoya and Osaka, along with ferries, local train services and some bullet train lines.

Prime Minister Shinzo has urged people to evacuate their citizens' rights to protect citizens.

"I mean the Japanese people to take action to protect your lives, including preparing and evacuating early," he said.

Japan is regularly struck by major storms during the summer and autumn.

The country has been sweating through a deadly heatwave that followed devastating rain in parts of central and western Japan that killed over 200 people.

The sustained rain caused widespread flooding and landslides in July, devastating entire villages and forcing thousands from their homes.

The flooding and landslides proved so deadly in part because many people did not heed evacuation colors, which are not mandatory.

Since the disaster, authorities have urged people to take the colors more seriously and prepare to leave home immediately they are issued.