Tropical Storm Talas (2022)

Tropical Storm Talas was a weak but destructive tropical cyclone which brought record-breaking rainfall to Japan in late-September 2022. The fifteenth named storm of the annual Pacific typhoon season, Talas formed as a tropical depression several hundred miles northwest of the Mariana Islands on September 20. The depression turned northwest and intensified to Tropical Storm Talas on September 23. Talas curved northeastward and began to weaken while approaching the eastern Japan. It weakened to a tropical depression later that day. Talas became extratropical on the next day just south of the Tōkai region. The extratropical remnants continued to move slowly to the northeast, and dissipated on September 27 to the east of Honshu.

In advance of the storm, thousands of people were evacuated in vulnerable areas. Although Talas remained weak and never made landfall, the rainbands to its north brought heavy precipitation to eastern Japan, which triggered flooding and landslides. 120,000 families experienced power outages in the region. Shizuoka Prefecture was the hardest-hit prefecture across the country. Many places in the prefecture broke the record of highest amount of precipitation. Talas killed three people and injured six others. Across the country, almost 13,000 houses were damaged by the storm, and the total damage reached ¥198 billion (US$1.38 billion).