Packing gusts of up to 144 kilometers (89 miles) per hour, the storm system was on course to cut across Japan's main island of Honshu overnight, the Meteorological Agency said.

Two people were confirmed dead and three others were listed missing when Etau hit Cape Muroto on Shikoku Island at about 9:30 pm (1230 GMT) while moving northeast at a speed of 20 kilometers per hour, the agency said.

A 63-year-old farmer drowned after falling into a swollen river near his rice paddy in Okayama in the west of Honshu, the National Police Agency said.

On Shikoku, two construction workers were swept away while clearing an underground drainage channel and another person was washed away from a pier by a huge wave, the agency said. It added 29 people had been injured.

The body of a 71-year-old man was found in a swollen river in Kochi on Shikoku, a prefectural police spokesman said. "We deemed it an accidental death related to the disaster as there were marks that the victim fell from the steps to his boat."

Some 1,600 people sought shelter in public facilities, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said. Some 4,600 other people have been advised to evacuate.

The police agency said 11 houses were damaged and 487 others were flooded. There were 64 landslides, it added.

The typhoon also forced the cancellation of domestic flights, ferry services and train runs, press reports said.

Local authorities in Minamata on the southern island of Kyushu, where 19 people were killed in landslides triggered by torrential rain last month, issued an evacuation recommendation to some 3,000 people for fear of further mudslides.

A blackout hit 22,500 households on Kyushu, according to Kyushu Electric Power Co.

Some 253 domestic flights to or from western and southwestern Japan were cancelled Friday, affecting at least 25,000 people, Kyodo News said.

Most ferry services were cancelled, while bullet trains on the Sanyo Shinkansen Line operated at reduced speeds early Friday due to heavy rain.

The typhoon caused 339 flights to be cancelled Thursday, affecting more than 48,000 travelers, Kyodo said.

The Meteorological Agency issued a warning of heavy rain and strong winds in wide areas of western Japan. Etau is expected to dump up to 600 millimeters (24 inches) of rain on the Pacific side of Shikoku Island.

TERRA.WIRE