Dynamic Wealth Management Headlines: Killer typhoon brings more misery to Japan

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TOKYO — Japan braced for more heavy rain and floods Monday as the death toll from the worst typhoon to hit the country in seven years climbed to 34. Rescuers searched for 55 others who remained missing, and tens of thousands of families struggled without power or telephone service.

Typhoon Talas, which was later downgraded to a tropical storm, lashed coastal areas with destructive winds and record-setting rains over the weekend before moving offshore into the Sea of Japan. Thousands were stranded as it washed out bridges, railways and roads. The destruction added more misery to a nation still reeling from a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami six months ago.

In one of his first acts in office, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda — sworn in just one day before Talas made landfall — vowed the government would provide as much assistance as quickly as it could. His predecessor, Naoto Kan, was forced out in large part because of public anger over the response to the tsunami, which left nearly 21,000 people dead or missing and touched off the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. “We will do everything we can to rescue people and search for the missing,” Noda said.

The typhoon was the worst to hit Japan since 2004, when 98 people were killed or reported missing. It caused most of its damage on the Kii peninsula in central Japan southwest of Tokyo and hundreds of miles (kilometers) from the country’s tsunami-ravaged northeastern coast. The Japan Meteorological Agency predicted more heavy rain Tuesday in northern and western Japan, where the already sodden ground caused fears of more mudslides and floods. The extent of damage from the typhoon was still emerging Monday.

Rescuers and reconnaissance teams spread out over the worst-hit areas to look for survivors or people stranded in flood zones, which though far smaller in scale were reminiscent of the debris-ridden, mud-caked wasteland created by the tsunami. Television footage showed washed-out train bridges, whole neighborhoods inundated by swollen rivers and police using rope to pull frightened survivors out of homes awash in the murky waters. Nearly 200,000 households remained without power Monday afternoon, Kyodo reported.