Talas typhoon leaves 27 dead, 51 missing in Japan

A powerful typhoon that hit western Japan on Sunday has killed 27 people and left 51 missing, making it the heaviest typhoon toll in the country in about seven years, Kyodo News reported Monday.

Police, firefighters and the Self-Defense Forces resumed searching for the missing Monday in Nara and Wakayama prefectures and found the body of Danzo Mori, an 82-year-old man who went missing in the village of Totsukawa in Nara.

The number of victims from Typhoon Talas could grow over a wide area including the Kii Peninsula, south of Osaka, as flooded rivers, damaged roads and mudslides have hampered relief work, Kyodo News quoted rescuers as saying.

The extent of the latest damage represents the worst since Typhoon Tokage left a total of 98 people dead or missing in October 2004.

On Monday morning, the typhoon moved north along the Sea of Japan, triggering heavy rain in central Japan's Tokai region. The Japan Meteorological Agency warned that the Kinki region in western Japan and eastern Japan areas could still suffer damage from landslides.