Pedestrians struggle to cross a street in Miyazaki, southern Japan, in heavy rain and strong winds caused by a powerful typhoon approaching to Japan Sunday, Oct. 5, 2014. (AP Photo/Kyodo News, Takanori Ichikawa)TOKYO – A powerful typhoon lashed southern Japan on Sunday, churning up high waves that washed three American airmen out to sea and killed at least one before taking aim at Tokyo.
Elsewhere in the Pacific, a separate typhoon whipped the Mariana Islands, including Guam, with high winds and heavy rain.
By late Sunday, Typhoon Phanfone was off the coast of Shikoku in southwestern Japan, with winds of up to 144 kilometers (90 miles) per hour after hitting the regions of Okinawa and Kyushu, Japan’s Meteorological Agency said.
One of the three airmen was found dead. The other two were missing, according to the Air Force and the Japanese coast guard.
They had been on Okinawa island’s northern coast when they were overcome by the waves, according to Tsuguyoshi Miyagi of the coast guard’s Okinawa branch.