Death toll rises in the wake of Typhoon Hagabis, belying other costs of the typhoon

Reports the first Monday (Oct. 14) after Typhoon Hagibis put the death toll from the season’s 19^th typhoon at 56. A week later, this number rose to 80. At least 100 were injured. Widespread flooding from heavy rains forced about 38,000 people across 17 prefectures to evacuate, and 3,700 homes were flooded throughout the country. Further, heavy rains caused 37 rivers to burst their banks, causing floods and landslides in nearby areas. 138,000 households were without water and 53,000 without power the Monday after the typhoon landed in Japan.

The aftereffects of Typhoon Hagabis also brings into question the capability of the Japanese government to respond to natural disasters, especially with possible effects from Typhoons Neoguri and Bualoi. Schools in areas affected by Hagabis (Oct. 12-13) only reopened on Oct. 21, speaking to the extensive damage caused by flooding. The economic effects of flooding are also staggering, and the cost of damaged farm crops is estimated to be as high as 70 billion yen (64.5 USD). Floodwaters affected 10 bullet trains in a Hokuriku Shinkansen bullet train yard in Nagano, and full-scale operations of the Hokuriku line may not resume for some time.

Although Japan may be a country accustomed to the effect of typhoons considering their frequency, the impact caused by typhoons vary, and ones that hit hard, hit hard. This is especially true when considering typhoon damage to hospitals, which may require electricity and water to maintain the health of critical care patients. Additionally, hospitals in affected areas may be unable to care for new cases caused by the typhoon due to the impact of the typhoon on the hospital building itself, e.g. flooding and lack of running water.

Neoguri and Bualoi may bring more rains to areas still recovering from the damage caused by Hagabis. Neoguri is no longer a typhoon and has been deemed low intensity by the Japan Meteorological Agency, and the center of Bualoi is on course to narrowly miss Japan at the time of writing.

Additional sources:
https://japantoday.com/category/national/Meteorological-Agency-warns-of-more-rain-mudslide-risk-in-typhoon-hit-areas
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20191021/p2a/00m/0na/007000c
https://www.jma.go.jp/en/typh/1921.html
https://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0006098293?fp=6ef63bf6e6482389a06e2ff480496daf