Japanese authorities now say 11 people are dead and hundreds more injured due to Typhoon Jebi, which disrupted land and air travel and left thousands of passengers stranded at a major airport.
Boats evacuated about 3,000 passengers stranded overnight at Kansai International Airport, which is built on an artificial island in Osaka Bay. They were stranded after a 2,500-ton tanker slammed into the side of the only bridge connecting the airport to the mainland, damaging the bridge and making it unusable.
Airport officials are unsure when Kansai will reopen. The facility not only serves millions of tourists each year, but is a crucial hub for air delivery carriers that transport computer chips, electronics and other goods around the world.
Typhoon Jebi made landfall Tuesday on the western island of Shikoku, carrying sustained winds of up to 160 kilometers per hour and strong gusts of up to 215 kilometers per hour, making it the strongest typhoon to hit Japan since 1993. At least 400,000 households are still without power across the region, according to Kansai Electric Power Company.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe canceled a scheduled trip to Kyushu to oversee the government’s response to the typhoon.