7 die, nearly 100 hurt as powerful typhoon batters wide area of Japan

Seven people died and nearly 100 others were injured as Typhoon Lan battered wide areas of Japan with heavy rain and strong winds, disrupting vote counting for the previous day's general election, authorities said Monday.The season's 21st typhoon made landfall on the central prefecture of Shizuoka early Monday and passed near Tokyo, causing floods, mudslides and traffic disruption. It was downgraded to an extratropical cyclone around 3 p.m. while east of Hokkaido in northern Japan.GALLERY: Typhoon Lan wreaks havoc across JapanThe large typhoon brought particularly heavy rainfall to the coun…READ FULL ARTICLE