颱風浣熊肆虐日本

Typhoon Neoguri is taking aim at Japan's most populous areas after dumping torrential rains on the southern islands of Okinawa.

Two people were killed and at least 28 injured as the storm moved across Okinawa on Wednesday, leaving 52,000 houses without power.

Though it has weakened, Neoguri is still packing wind gusts of up to 162 kilometers per hour. But the main concern now is the slow-moving storm's heavy rainfall.

Forecasters warn that the island of Kyushu could see at least 300 millimeters of rain in a 24-hour period through mid-day Thursday, when it begins heading towards Tokyo and the city of Osaka, located on the main island of Honshu

Neoguri is posing a particular threat of landslides and floods, since it is hitting Japan at the end of its rainy season.

Japan usually is hit by several typhoons each year, but it is unusual for such a storm to hit as early as July.颱風浣熊在日本南部沖繩島造成暴雨之後侵入日本人口稠密地區。

颱風浣熊星期三經過沖繩島時造成2人死亡，至少28人受傷，5萬兩千所住宅斷電。

雖然有所減弱，但颱風每小時的風速仍爲162公里。人們現在主要擔心的是移動緩慢的風暴帶來的暴雨。

天氣預報警告說，在星期四中午以前的24小時裏，九州島可能至少有300毫米的降雨量。颱風星期四轉向位於本州島的東京和大阪。

日本雨季即將結束，颱風浣熊此時來襲特別容易引起洪水和塌方。

雖然日本每年都會遭遇幾次颱風，但今年在七月初就刮颱風實在不同尋常。