Japan's deadliest typhoon in more than a decade has set off floods and landslides that killed at least 48 people and left 33 missing.
Many people died in landslides set off by the heavy rains from Typhoon Tokage that pounded much of Japan yesterday. Others died in flooding or were swept away by massive waves as "Tokage", which means lizard in Japanese, roared northeast.
It was a record 10th typhoon to hit Japan this year and the death toll was the highest since the 62 people killed or still unaccounted for after a typhoon in 1991.
Among the dead were three people killed when high waves battered through a concrete breakwater and smashed into their home in Kochi, on Shikoku island in western Japan.
Television showed people holding on to power poles to stay on their feet as the storm swept up the coast towards Tokyo.
Telephone poles stuck up out of muddy water that still covered vast areas near the ancient capital city of Kyoto.
Rescuers in the western Japanese prefecture of Okayama dug through the rubble of seven homes crushed in a landslide, searching for possible survivors.
The storm sideswiped Tokyo, buffeting the city with strong winds and rain, before heading out to sea. It was downgraded to a tropical depression at around 9.00 a.m. on Thursday (1 a.m. Irish time yesterday).
During the worst of the storm, thousands of people were urged to evacuate to schools and public halls out of fear of flooding and landslides. At least 40,000 homes lost power.