Typhoon Tokage, which also injured at least 15 people, became a record 10th typhoon to land on the main Japanese islands in a year. The typhoons have claimed at least 103 lives.

With an 800-kilometer (500-mile) radius of powerful winds, Tokage is the biggest typhoon to land in Japan since 1991 when the Meteorological Agency began its classification system.

A 31-year-old man was found dead near a flooding river in Miyazaki Prefecture in southern Japan, where his vehicles skidded on or near a bridge, local police said.

"We are still investigating the case to see what caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle," a police spokesman said.

In the same area, a 65-year-old farmer was swept away by a flooding river while he was inspecting a rice field, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.

A 75-year-old fisherman in Kochi was pulled into the ocean by high waves while he was checking his boat at a port, a local government official said.

In Chiba prefecture, just east of Tokyo, two construction workers who were building up an embankment along a coastline were pulled into the Pacific by high waves, a government official said.

Tokage, which means lizard in Japanese, struck the Pacific coast at around 1:00 pm (0400 GMT) at Tosashimizu, Kochi Prefecture, 700 kilometersmiles) southwest of Tokyo, the Meteorological Agency said.

Packing wind speeds of 144 kilometers (90 miles) per hour, it triggered landslides and sent objects flying, injuring at least 15 people in southern Japan, police said.

Among the injured were four people trapped in an office building which was crushed in Oita Prefecture and a 24-year-old woman who was rescued unconscious after being buried alive by a landslide in Ehime, police said.

Tokage is expected to move northeast through the Japanese archipelago through Thursday, bringing strong winds, heavy rain and high waves.

Authorities have issued evacuation warnings to at least 8,292 people who live mainly along the Pacific coast. By Wednesday 3,141 people had voluntarily left for temporary shelters, the disaster agency said.

A 9,900-ton cargo ship was grounded on an island off the coast of Ehime prefecture in southwestern Japan but all 12 crew members were unharmed, police said.

"The vessel is still intact, not leaking oil," he said.

The nine previous typhoons that have hit the country this year caused a total of 102 deaths and left 13 missing and presumed dead.

Typhoon Ma-on slammed into the Tokyo metropolitan area on October 9, killing six people and paralyzing the capital's transport systems.

Just a week before Ma-on, Typhoon Meari wreaked havoc in the Japanese islands, killing 22 and injuring 89 in floods, landslides and other accidents.

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