Typhoon Fitow - and its victims

台風９号

Typhoon Fitow hit Tokyo yesterday afternoon - with a wallop! Having caused light injuries to a few people and cut out power to tens of thousands of homes on its way here, the typhoon (named after a Micronesian flower) is now ravaging the capital.

In textbook terms, it is not a particularly savage one, rating only a 1 out of the storm categories of 1 to 5. However, because it is moving so slowly (about 9mph), it is picking up a lot of water from the ocean and dumping it in buckets on land.

Naturally hundreds of airplane flights have been canceled, affecting thousands of travelers.

Besides the fierce intermittent gusts that made walking home last night a bit hair raising, the most tangible evidence of the typhoon's power is the trail of trashed umbrellas it is leaving in its wake. From the station platform, to my apartment entrance, it was a battlefield of skeletal umbrellas, cruelly flayed.

Still, the forecast for the weekend is sun - with just a little cloud, in memory of all those brave brollies!


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