Four members of the same family went missing in Japan on Wednesday (28 August) after heavy rain from oncoming typhoon Shanshan caused a landslip, according to police.

On Wednesday morning, Typhoon Shanshan was 80 kilometres northeast of the southern Amami archipelago, with winds gusting to 252 km per hour. After hours of torrential rain, a wall of mud, boulders, and other debris swept away their home in Gamagori, a central Aichi prefecture, late Tuesday.

“The landslip hit a house where five family members were living – a couple in their 70s, two women in their 40s and a man in his 30s,” a spokesperson for Gamagori told AFP.

“One of them was rescued late Tuesday, but the search for the four others has continued through the night,” he mentioned.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, Southern Kyushu is forecast to receive 500 millimetres (20 inches) of rain by Thursday morning and 600 mm by Friday morning.

Because of the rain, local governments issued evacuation advisories to 810,000 residents in the central Shizuoka prefecture on Honshu and 56,000 others in Kagoshima, Kyushu, according to the fire and disaster management agency.

According to a news conference, the weather agency may also issue a specific heavy rain alert for Kagoshima prefecture later Wednesday. “We must be on the highest alert,” the commander stated.

Airlines have cancelled hundreds of flights, and some bullet train services may be suspended this week, depending on the path of Typhoon Shanshan, operators said. Kyushu Railway said it would restrict some Shinkansen bullet train services connecting Kumamoto and Kagoshima Chuo beginning Wednesday night and warned of more disruptions. Other operators have stated that trains between Tokyo and Fukuoka, Kyushu’s most populated city, may be cancelled this week due to weather conditions.

This week, Typhoon Shanshan was forecast to head towards Kyushu, Japan’s most significant southern island. This follows Typhoon Ampil, which interrupted hundreds of flights and trains earlier this month. Despite the tremendous rain, it only resulted in minimal casualties and damage.

Ampil arrived days after Tropical Storm Maria dumped record rains on northern parts.

According to a study published last month, typhoons in the region are forming closer to coastlines, intensifying faster, and persisting longer on land as a result of climate change.

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