Typhoon Dujuan, Japan: 16 Dead as Record Rain Sets Off Landslides and Floods Near Tokyo

What happened

Typhoon Dujuan, Japan’s 25th typhoon of 2026, formed near the Mariana Islands on the night of 16 September. On Monday, 21 September, it passed close to the Izu Islands and the Kanto region around Tokyo as a large and strong typhoon, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) summary published by the Cabinet Office. JMA describes it as approaching the coast; some international reports called it a landfall. By 9 p.m. on 22 September it had become an extratropical low far east of Japan.

The wind was not the main killer. The rain was. Over 19 to 21 September, more than 800 mm fell in the Izu Islands and more than 500 mm in parts of Chiba and Shizuoka, according to JMA. Oshima island, south of Tokyo, recorded 832 mm in 48 hours, the highest at that station since its records began in 1991. Tokyo’s Edogawa ward logged a record 282.5 mm in 24 hours, NHK reported via Euronews. Hillsides that were already soaked gave way in Chiba and Kanagawa, and floodwater spread across low farmland around Lake Inba in northern Chiba, where embankments failed at several points.

At 12.40 p.m. on 21 September, JMA issued a Level 5 landslide special warning, the highest level, for Oshima town in Tokyo. It was lowered at 11 p.m. that night. The Fire and Disaster Management Agency (FDMA), quoted by AFP, said more than 16 lakh people in and around the capital were urged to evacuate that Monday; the orders were not mandatory. Some reports put the peak at about 19 lakh. On 22 September, TV Asahi reported that Sakura city in Chiba was still under Level 5 “emergency safety” status.

The people

FDMA’s report of 5 October 2026 lists 16 deaths in the prefectures hit by Typhoon No. 25: ten in Chiba (four in Kamogawa and one each in Mobara, Ichihara, Sodegaura, Inzai, Sammu and Nagara), five in Kanagawa (three in Yokosuka and two in Miura) and one in Nichinan, Miyazaki. The same FDMA report also counts one death in Tamana, Kumamoto, but that was added when the agency folded later rain from Typhoon No. 26 and a weather front into the report, so we have not counted it here. Kyodo News, counting Chiba and Kanagawa only, gives 15.

Most deaths came from landslides that hit houses and roads. TV Asahi reported that a man in his 50s was caught in a landslide in Sodegaura, a woman in her 80s died when slopes collapsed in Kamogawa, and a woman in her 60s died in a landslide in Kanagawa. Jiji Press reported that a man in his 60s in Ichihara and a woman in her 20s in Miura were among the later confirmed deaths. Victims’ names have not been widely published, and we are not publishing them.

The last missing person, a man in his 70s believed to have been caught by a landslide while driving in Nagara town, Chiba, was found under the soil on 3 October. Chiba prefecture confirmed his identity on 4 October, and Kyodo reported that nobody was missing any more. FDMA lists 41 people injured, three of them seriously, in its combined report.

Response and investigation

Chiba set up its disaster headquarters at 12.30 p.m. on 21 September and Kanagawa at 4.30 p.m. The Disaster Relief Act was applied to 24 municipalities in Chiba and one town in Tokyo on 21 September, and later to two cities in Kanagawa, according to the Cabinet Office. Fire brigades from Chiba city, Ichikawa, Matsudo and other areas went to help neighbouring districts, and FDMA sent its own staff and fire research centre experts to Awa, Yokosuka and Chosei. The Self-Defense Forces were clearing fallen trees in Ichihara on 28 September, Jiji reported.

At the peak, about 62,700 households in the Tokyo Electric Power area lost electricity, according to the Cabinet Office. Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways cancelled 275 flights between them on 21 September (AFP). On 28 September, about 1,600 homes in Chiba had been flooded, about 3,900 homes had no power and around 160 people were in evacuation centres, Jiji reported.

On 25 September, disaster management minister Goshi Hosono said the government expected to designate the typhoon a severe disaster, together with earlier heavy rain in Chiba and Hokuriku, which would raise central support for repairs, Kyodo reported. On 12 October, FNN reported an analysis by Kyoto University landslide expert Professor Takebayashi of the Disaster Prevention Research Institute: the large Kamogawa landslide reached a house about 11 seconds after it started, moving at about 30 km/h on average.

Why this matters for India

Japan has a well-tested warning system, and still 16 people died. Most of them were not hit by wind or sea surge but by soil sliding off soaked slopes, often onto their own homes or onto roads. The expert quoted by FNN made a point every hill district in India should hear: after days of rain, the ground holds water, and a slope can fail even when the rain has eased.

India faces the same mix. Cyclones that cross the Odisha, Andhra or Gujarat coasts often do their worst damage inland, through rain, floods and landslides, days after the eye has passed. NCRB’s Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India 2024 counted 361 flood deaths and 351 landslide deaths in India that year; Kerala alone reported 155 landslide deaths.

Lessons for cyclone and heavy-rain season in India

• Act on the warning, not on the sky. When IMD issues an orange or red alert or a cyclone warning for your district, move people from hill slopes, river banks and low-lying lanes in daylight. Do not wait to see water.
• Know if your house sits below a slope. Cracks in the hillside, tilting trees or poles, muddy water from a slope that is usually clear, or rumbling sounds are signs to leave at once.
• The danger does not end when the rain stops. Soaked ground can still slide for a day or two. Go back only when the local administration says it is safe.
• Do not drive into the storm. At least one person in Japan died while driving. Postpone travel, and never drive through flowing water or along a road cut into a wet hillside.
• Keep a charged phone and a torch ready. Power can go for days. Keep a power bank, drinking water, medicines and copies of documents in one bag.
• Save the numbers. In India, call 112 for any emergency, 101 for fire and 108 for an ambulance. In Japan, dial 119 for fire and ambulance and 110 for police.

What is still not known

The formal cabinet decision on the severe-disaster designation, the final housing damage count, the cause of each embankment failure at Lake Inba and the full repair timeline for damaged railway lines had not been published in any source we could find on 17 October 2026. FDMA figures are marked as preliminary and may still change.