Photo taken from a Kyodo News helicopter on Sept. 4, 2011, shows houses inundated in Kiho, Mie Prefecture, as powerful Typhoon Talas crossed western Japan. (Kyodo)
http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2011/09/112837.html
TOKYO, Sept. 4, Kyodo
At least 20 people were dead and more than 50 others were missing as a powerful typhoon brought torrential rain causing massive floods and mudslides in western Japan on Sunday, a Kyodo News tally showed.
The number of victims from Typhoon Talas could grow in a wide area including the Kii Peninsula, south of Osaka, as flooded rivers, damaged roads and mudslides have hampered relief work by police and firefighters.
Japan has only experienced a few typhoons since 1990 in which the combined number of dead and missing has topped or neared 50.
