Portugal Colonial - Typhoon Dujuan leaves 7 dead in Japan from landslides, flooding: media

As the typhoon passed the Pacific coast, electricity to some 58,000 households in Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo, was temporarily cut off early Tuesday, Kyodo said.

Dujuan, coming in the middle of the string of holidays dubbed "Silver Week," led to the early closure in Tokyo of the one of the world's biggest video game trade fairs.

The storm moved out into the Pacific by Tuesday morning, and was downgraded from a typhoon later in the day, Kyodo said, citing the Japanese weather agency.

Japan often sees strong typhoons in the late summer and early autumn, with other storms this season disrupting some events at the Asian Games being held in the country.

Kyodo said five people had died in Chiba prefecture and two in Kanagawa, south of Tokyo.

Search operations were continuing for people missing after landslides triggered by torrential rain.

Dujuan dumped record rainfall in parts of the region.

Oshima, an island about 120 kilometres (75 miles) south of central Tokyo, recorded 832 millimetres of rain over 48 hours, more than double its average rainfall for the whole of September, public broadcaster NHK reported.

Rainfall in Tokyo's Edogawa Ward reached a record 282.5 millimetres over 24 hours.

Scientists say human-driven climate change is intensifying the risk posed by heavy rains because a warmer atmosphere holds more water.

P.Serra--PC