Severe Tropical Storm Maria makes landfall in Tohoku region

The Japan Meteorological Agency says Severe Tropical Storm Maria has made landfall in the northeastern prefecture of Iwate.

Weather officials warn that bands of heavy rain clouds could develop over the prefectures of Iwate, Miyagi and Aomori through Monday morning. They say record heavy rain could fall mainly in the Pacific side of Tohoku.

Rainfall reached up to 450 millimeters in Kuji City and 255.5 millimeters in Otsuchi Town, both in Iwate Prefecture, in the 48 hours through 8 a.m. on Monday. That’s the highest since the Meteorological Agency began taking statistics.