Tokyo, 15 August 2023 (dpa/MIA) - Typhoon Lan lashed parts of central Japan with heavy rains and severely hampered the travel plans of people returning from summer holidays.

Lan arrived from the Pacific Ocean to make landfall on the Kii Peninsula on Tuesday. It is the seventh tropical storm of the season.

Rivers swelled to dangerous levels, damaging houses and cars. In some cases, torrents of mud entered buildings, images showed.

The Japan Meteorological Agency warned of the danger of landslides and further flooding.

In Kyoto and other places, tens of thousands of residents were called to evacuate.

Tens of thousands of households were temporarily without electricity, operators said.

About 50 people, many of them elderly, were injured across several prefectures, local media reported.

Rail and air traffic saw major disruptions as many Japanese headed back home at the end of the week-long Buddhist festival of Obon, which commemorates deceased ancestors.

High-speed train services between Nagoya and Shin-Osaka and between Shin-Osaka and Okayama were suspended. Hundreds of flights also had to be cancelled.

Photo: MIA Archive