Japan PM visits typhoon-hit areas as royals signal parade delay

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday visited the towns devasted by the deadly Typhoon Hagibis to meet residents to assess damage and their needs.

Rescue and relief efforts for stranded or missing people in flooded mountain villages continued on Thursday, as the death toll climbed.

NHK television counted 77 killed and nine still missing, while the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said 65 were pronounced dead.

Reports say that as of Thursday, more than 105,000 households still have no water, while thousands of homes have no electricity.

Reports say Abe’s government, in an attempt to focus on disaster response, has agreed with the country’s royal household postponing the parade celebrating Emperor Naruhito‘s enthronement.

The enthronement ceremony and banquet will be held as scheduled on Tuesday, while the parade has been postponed to November 10.

Typhoon Hagibis hit northern and central Japan last weekend with historic rainfall that caused rivers to overflow and left thousands of homes flooded, damaged or without power.

Fukushima prefecture, struck in the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster, was among the hardest-hit by the typhoon.