Typhoon pounds Japan and crippled nuclear plant

A powerful typhoon struck Japan on Wednesday, killing six people, disrupting public transportation and pummeling Tokyo and northeastern Japan including the tsunami-crippled Fukushima nuclear plant with heavy rain, officials and media said. Typhoon Roke, the second big storm to hit Japan this month, was packing winds of up to 180 km per hour (110 miles per hour) at its centre and dumped more than 30 cm (12 inches) of rain in parts of northeastern Japan over the past 24 hours, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.