Tokyo: Heatstroke has killed two people in Japan, officials said today, as nearly half a million homes struggled with electricity outages after a powerful typhoon battered Tokyo and the surrounding area.
A 93-year-old woman and a 65-year-old man were found unconscious at their respective homes on Tuesday and were later confirmed dead by doctors, an official from Chiba prefecture east of Tokyo told AFP.
At least 48 other people were sent to hospital for symptoms of heatstroke Tuesday, she said, as the mercury hit above 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) in areas where electricity is still out after Typhoon Faxai hit on Monday.
By today morning, some 456,000 households were still without power, Tokyo Electric Co. (TEPCO) said in a statement. “Please take refuge in cool places and drink water to avoid heatstroke,” TEPCO said, apologising to customers for the outage. A local official said 84,000 households were also without water on Tuesday because several water purification plants had no power, but “water supply is recovering gradually” today as electricity is restored.