TOKYO, July 4 (Xinhua) -- Tropical storm Prapiroon battered wide swathes of Japan Wednesday with torrential rainfall, with the western main island of Shikoku, central Japan and Hokkaido Prefecture in northern Japan among the hardest hit, the weather agency here said.
According to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), Prapiroon has been moving in a northeasterly direction at a speed of 40 km per hour.
With a central atmospheric pressure of 985 hectopascals, the storm is packing winds speeds of up to 83 km per hour, the agency said.
Around 130 people were left stranded at a hot spring resort in Hokkaido after torrential downpours triggered landslides in the area a day earlier, local media said.
Those stranded were staying at the Tenninkyo hot spring in Higashikawa, Hokkaido, when heavy downpours caused a prefectural road close to a river to become inundated.
Parts of the road slid away, according to local accounts, stranding those at the resort.
All of those stranded were subsequently rescued on Wednesday and transported to a town hall.
Local authorities said no one was injured as a result of the incident.
The JMA said that although the storm will likely become a low-pressure system by Wednesday night, torrential rain could still affect areas far from the storm.
The JMA has warned a number of regions of potential landslides, floods, lightening and tornadoes as a result of the storm.
Tokushima Prefecture in Shikoku is currently under warning of landslides and Yamaguchi Prefecture in western Japan has been warned of rivers potentially flooding.
Up to 300 mm of rainfall is expected in some parts of Shikoku in the 24 hours through Thursday morning, the JMA said.
As much as 250 mm of rain is forecast in the Kinki region in western Japan and in Japan's central Tokai region, the weather agency also said.
Thunderstorms and downpours of up to 50 mm per hour could hit Pacific coastal regions through Thursday, the JMA said, with 30 mm per hour of rain expected in northern parts of Japan.
