Tropical storm hits Central Japan, 56 injured

Typhoon Ma-on is downgraded to a severe tropical storm and is slowly moving east over the Pacific Ocean near the Kii Peninsula in central Japan. The Meteorological Agency says Ma-on landed in the southwestern prefecture of Tokushima early on Wednesday morning and then moved out to sea. As of noon, the storm was 70 kilometers off the coast of Mie Prefecture in central Japan, traveling east at a speed of 20 kilometers per hour. Ma-on is bringing torrential rain to many areas of the country. The town of Odai in Mie Prefecture has had about 1,000 millimeters of rain since Sunday. Rain across wide areas from the Shikoku to Tokai regions has accumulated to more than 600 millimeters. As of noon, one person is missing in Kochi Prefecture and 56 people in 16 prefectures have been injured, NHK World Radio Japan reported. More than 130 domestic flights on Wednesday have been canceled, mainly those leaving and arriving at airports in central Japan.