Heavy rain emergency warning issued for western Japan

Japanese weather officials have issued a heavy rain emergency warning for Tottori Prefecture. The alert is the highest on the five-tier warning scale. People in western and central Japan are dealing with powerful winds and downpours accompanying Severe Tropical Storm Lan.

In parts of Tottori, more than 230 millimeters of rain were recorded in just six hours. That surpasses the typical amount of rainfall for the entire month of August. Authorities are urging people to stay alert for mudslides, flooding, overflowing rivers and strong winds. Weather officials said the storm is moving slowly northward and winds of up to 90 kilometers per hour.

Rainfall could reach over 200 millimeters in the 24 hours until noon on Wednesday. Shinkansen bullet train operators canceled services between Nagoya and Okayama on Tuesday. The number of canceled domestic flights could top 800.