17 unaccounted for in typhoon-hit northern Japan

Seventeen people were unaccounted for in Japan Thursday after Typhoon Lionrock tore through the north of the country, leaving 11 people dead and some 1,600 cut off in isolated communities, officials said. The typhoon, which packed wind gusts of over 160 kilometres (100 miles) an hour landed on Japan's northern Pacific coast on Tuesday evening. It tore through the region, dumping torrential rain over a wide area, stranding communities, with roads and bridges destroyed or blocked, authorities said.