Sawt Falasteen - Four injured, flights cancelled in Japan as twin storms approach

Severe tropical storm Mekkhala was downgraded from a typhoon but still carried gusts of up to 108 kilometres (67 miles) per hour, according to forecasters. Heavy rain has already pounded parts of southern and western Japan.

The weather system was expected to skirt the islands of Kyushu, Shikoku and Honshu over the weekend, affecting a swath of the country including densely populated Osaka, Nagoya and Tokyo.

It was expected to converge with tropical storm Higos, which was also swirling further out in the Pacific Ocean.

That could result in the atmospheric phenomenon known as the Fujiwhara effect, when two storms interact, making forecasting their movements and strengths more difficult.

"There is a risk of extremely heavy rain at warning levels," top government spokesman Minoru Kihara told reporters.

"So far, we have received reports of one person seriously injured and three people with minor injuries" as well as flooding in dozens of buildings mainly in the southern region of Kagoshima, he said.

"We offer our heartfelt sympathy to all those affected by the disaster, and we will continue to gain an accurate picture of the damage situation," he said, adding the government is cooperating with municipalities to take "emergency disaster response measures".

Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways cancelled a total of 120 flights to and from the southern regions of Okinawa and Kagoshima.

Local authorities have advised more than one million residents to evacuate, warning of potential landslides and other heavy rain-related disasters, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said.

Officials in Kyoto and Osaka said water levels in rivers were rising, warning of potential floods.

Automaker Toyota suspended operations at a plant in Kyushu because of road closures caused by heavy rain, while Nissan also said it planned to halt some production lines, Kyodo News reported.

The Japanese military also cancelled the planned maiden flight of a V-22 Osprey transport aircraft to Miyako Island that was part of joint exercises with the United States, Kyodo said.

In Taiwan, more than 1,600 people were evacuated from their homes, and schools and offices were shut in several areas, as Mekkhala triggered torrential rain, floods and landslides across the island. Some train lines were suspended.

Authorities warned on Friday of potentially dangerous debris flows in mountainous areas of eastern Hualien county and Kaohsiung and Pingtung in the south, where the weather forecasting agency said as much as 88 cm (34.6 inches) of rain had fallen since Thursday.

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S.Barghouti--SF-PST