Storm Shanshan slowly moves across Japan as officials warn of torrential rains in major cities

TOKYO (AP) — Tropical Storm Shanshan slowly made its way into central Japan Saturday, halting trains and leaving underground passages brimming with water as officials warned of torrential rains in major cities, including Osaka and Tokyo.

The storm, packing winds of up to 65 kilometers (40 miles) per hour, crawled past the southwestern island of Shikoku and was traveling over the southern part of the main Honshu island at a speed of 15 kph (9 mph) by late afternoon. It was forecast to affect parts of Japan through Sunday and Monday, although its exact route was uncertain, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

Initially categorized as a typhoon, Shanshan made landfall Thursday. It has since weakened, but its slow movement means intense rainfall lasts for long periods in a relatively large area.

It has caused at least six storm-related deaths and dozens of injuries since it began dumping rain on Japan Wednesday, according to public broadcaster NHK which compiles tallies from local governments; One person was swept by a river, another crushed by a fallen roof, a man was slammed onto the road by a blast of wind in southwestern Japan and three others were killed in a mudslide, it reported.

The public broadcaster also said a man who went out on a boat was missing and 127 people were injured.

Damage from the heavy rainfall hit a wide area, including more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) away from the center of the storm. News footage showed overflooded rivers and cars immersed in muddied waters in Kanagawa Prefecture, southwest of Tokyo, even when the storm was technically still in southwestern Kyushu.

The meteorological agency issued heavy rainfall and mudslide warnings in Aomori, in northeastern Japan, for Saturday evening. The local government of Suginami ward in Tokyo warned residents in risk areas to be ready to evacuate in case of mudslides.

Dozens of flights were canceled and airlines scheduled alternate flights for stranded passengers. In southwestern Japan, the storm left a broken bridge, as well as layers of mud and branches strewn on roads.

The Tokaido bullet train was halted between Nagoya and Mishima, the area projected to be most affected by the storm. Other local trains were running on delayed schedules.

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Firefighters help clean up floodwater out of a house in Ogaki, central Japan, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024, following a tropical storm in the area. (Natsumi Yasumoto/Kyodo News via AP)

Flood debris is seen piled on the bank of the Yoshino river in Tokushima, southern Japan, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024, following a tropical storm in the area. (Yusuke Hashizume/Kyodo News via AP)

Passengers look at flight information as some flights were canceled due to a severe weather system affecting Japan, at Haneda airport Friday, Aug. 30, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A notice board of departure flights is seen as many flights were canceled as a severe weather system is affecting Japan, at Haneda airport Friday, Aug. 30, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

People look at debris stuck on a bridge over a river in Ninomiyamachi, southwest of Tokyo, Japan, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024, following a severe weather system in the area. (Yuya Shino/Kyodo News via AP)

A person walks in the rain Friday, Aug. 30, 2024, in Tokyo, as a severe weather system has affected. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

ROME (AP) — Italy's army will guard medical staff at a hospital in the southern Calabria region starting Monday, after a string of violent attacks on doctors and nurses by enraged patients and relatives across Italy, local media reported.

Prefect Paolo Giovanni Grieco approved a plan to reinforce the surveillance services already operated by soldiers on sensitive targets in the Calabrian town of Vibo Valentia, including the hospital, the reports said.

Recent attacks on health care workers have been particularly frequent in southern Italy, prompting the doctors’ national guild to request that the army be deployed to ensure medical staff safety.

The turning point was an assault at the Policlinico hospital in the southern city of Foggia in early September. A group of about 50 relatives and friends of a 23-year-old woman — who died during emergency surgery — turned their grief and rage into violence, attacking the hospital staff.

Video footage, widely circulated on social media, showed doctors and nurses barricading in a room to escape the attack. Some of them were punched and injured. The director of the hospital threatened to close its emergency room after denouncing three similar attacks in less than a week.

With over 16,000 reported cases of physical and verbal assaults nationwide in 2023 alone, Italian doctors and nurses have called for drastic measures.

“We have never seen such levels of aggression in the past decade,” said Antonio De Palma, president of the Nursing Up union, stressing the urgent need for action.

“We are now at a point where considering military protection in hospitals is no longer a far-fetched idea. We cannot wait any longer,” he said.

The Italian Federation of Medical-Scientific Societies has also proposed more severe measures for offenders, such as suspending access to free medical care for three years for anyone who assaults healthcare workers or damages hospital facilities.

Understaffing and long waiting lists are the main reasons behind patients' frustration with health workers.

According to Italy’s largest union for doctors, nearly half of emergency medicine positions remained unfilled as of 2022. Doctors lament that Italy’s legislation has kept wages low, leading to overworked and burned out staff at hospitals.

These problems have been further aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has pushed many health workers to leave Italy in search of better opportunities abroad.

In 2023, Italy was short of about 30,000 doctors, and between 2010 and 2020, the country saw the closure of 111 hospitals and 113 emergency rooms, data from a specialized forum showed.

FILE - Carabinieri (Italian paramilitary police) officers outside the San Giovanni Evangelista Hospital in Tivoli, Italy, on Dec. 9, 2023. (Mauro Scrobogna/LaPresse via AP, File)