Typhoon lashes Japan on landfall

A typhoon(台风) has made landfall in Japan for the first time in two years, causing widespread disruption.

Two people have been killed and more than 40 injured in strong winds and heavy rains.

Typhoon Melor struck south-west of Tokyo on the main island of Honshu, flooding roads, uprooting 1 trees, and ripping roofs from houses.

Many flights and train services were suspended（暂停）, stranding 2 commuters in the morning rush-hour.

The car-maker Toyota halted production at factories in central Japan.

Flights cancelled

The typhoon made landfall on Japan's main island of Honshu shortly before dawn in Aichi prefecture, to the south-west of Tokyo.

Driving rain flooded roads, while strong winds ripped the roofs off houses and knocked over trucks on the highways.

A 69-year-old man was killed in Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, by a large branch that was ripped（撕裂） from a tree by the strong winds.

In Wakayama Prefecture in western Japan a newspaper deliveryman died when his motorcycle hit a fallen tree.

Dozens more people were injured, many by wind-blown debris 3 or broken glass.

More than 300 flights have been cancelled because of the storm, as have bullet train services.

In Tokyo overland train lines were temporarily suspended, stranding commuters in the busy morning rush hour.

Typhoon Melor is bringing gusts 4 of wind of up to 198km/h (123 mph), cutting a swathe across densely 5 populated central Japan.

It weakened slightly as it surged across the main island of Honshu, but "is still very dangerous," said Takeo Tanaka, a weather forecaster from the Meteorological Agency.

"Winds are violent and rain is torrential. You should also be on guard against mudslides（泥石流）," he said.

The agency warned that extensive areas in Japan, including Tokyo and the western industrial hub of Osaka, were at high risk of landslides 6.

Typhoon season

Tens of thousands of households were without electricity in western Mie and central Gifu prefectures, while a blackout also hit 3,500 households in Tokyo and in neighbouring Kanagawa, power companies said.

Despite Japan's extensive（广泛） defences against floods and landslides, including storm surge barriers in coastal 7 areas, western Japan was battered 8 in October 2004 by Typhoon Tokage, which killed 95 people.

In August this year, Typhoon Etau brought flash floods and landslides that killed at least 25 people in Japan, even though it avoided a direct hit.

Another powerful storm, Ketsana, has caused devastation 9 across Southeast Asia, killing 10 hundreds of people, mostly in the Philippines and Vietnam.

In Taiwan more than 600 people died after Typhoon Morakot struck in August. （本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑）