Japan whipped by deadly typhoon

Rescue workers in Japan are frantically searching for survivors after the nation was hit by a massive typhoon. At least 55 people have been killed and an operation is underway to find some 33 others still missing in floods and landslides. A group of mostly elderly tourists had to be taken to safety after spending a terrifying night stranded on the roof of a bus. This is the deadliest typhoon to hit the nation in more than a decade, it swept in from the west accompanied by heavy rains.

It came ashore yesterday afternoon. More than 100,000 people were forced to flee their homes. The typhoon reached speeds of 230 kilometres and hour. The crew of a 2,500 tonne ship had hoped to wait out the storm at Toyama west of Tokyo, but high seas swept the vessel onto a breakwater. There were 167 people were onboard, they were slowly taken to shore, three suffered minor injuries. The typhoon has left a swathe of devastation in its wake.

Experts say it caused widespread damage because of its size, with a radius of more than 500 kilometres it affected most of the nation with rain and wind. This is the tenth typhoon to hit Japan this year. It has now moved out to the Pacific Ocean and been downgraded to a tropical depression.

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