Japan Typhoon – 26 dead and 175 injured as 140mph Hagibis batters Japan sparking floods and landslides

AT least 26 people have been killed and more than 175 have been left injured after Typhoon Hagibis battered Japan with the heaviest rain and winds in over 60 years.

More than seven million people were forced to evacuate and 18 people are still missing after the 140mph storm made landfall yesterday - sparking landslides and floods.

Public broadcaster NHK reports the death toll is rising today, as Japan reels in the aftermath of the devastating storm.

More than 376,0000 homes lost power and 14,000 have no running water, as thousands are stranded among floodwater and debris.

Landslides near Tokyo's suburbs destroyed houses, with flooding crippling the country - 800 flights were cancelled and bullet train services heavily hit.

Some 27,000 members of Japan's self-defence forces as well as firefighters, police and coastguard members have been deployed in the recovery efforts following one of the worst typhoons in recent years.

A family who sheltered in their home before it collapsed told Sky News: "I heard a loud bang. And I thought, the house is probably collapsing.

"We were buried under all the things. My husband and my mum got out by themselves. And I was helped by my husband. And the other four of us were helped by firefighters."

Military helicopters airlifted stranded people from homes near the river, some cradling their children, after they were trapped by water reaching the roofs of their houses.

TYPHOON DEVASTATION

In Fukushima, north of the capital, Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) reported irregular readings from sensors monitoring water in its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The plant was crippled by a 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Tepco spokeswoman Emi Iwasa said the typhoon triggered 11 leak alerts at the plant.

Of those, eight were confirmed as being triggered by rainwater and the rest were still being investigated.

Hagibis, which means "speed" in the Philippine language Tagalog, made landfall on Japan's main island of Honshu on Saturday evening and headed out to sea early on Sunday - leaving behind cloudless skies and high temperatures across the country.

NHK showed fields and vast residential areas in parts of central and eastern Japan covered in brown water, with some of the worst damage caused by Chikuma river in Nagano prefecture.

In Kawagoe, north of Tokyo, rescuers took residents from a flooded aged care facility by inflatable boats and carried them on their backs to safety.

They also searched for survivors in homes destroyed in landslides near Tokyo's suburbs and in Fukushima prefecture, NHK showed.