Two other storms were also moving through the region, generating a rockslide that crushed a tour bus in Taiwan and threatening to dump heavy rain on the tiny Pacific island of Guam and the nearby Marianas.

Though weakening and downgraded from typhoon status, Chataan hit shore in southern Japan early Wednesday and dumped torrents of rain across the country. It was expected to hit Tokyo on Thursday.

Hardest hit was the city of Ogaki, in central Japan. About 15,000 people in and around the city were ordered to leave their homes as a river flooded over its banks and a rockslide cut off access to several small villages.

Police said two men fishing near the river were swept away by the rushing waters. One remained missing hours later, but the other was rescued by helicopter.

In Oita, southern Japan, 13-year-old junior high school student Dai Shuto was found dead in a river after chasing a soccer ball while playing with his classmates at a riverbank playground, local police said.

Six people were reported to have suffered minor injuries in strong winds just north of Tokyo.

Transportation was disrupted nationwide. Several flights to the south and the super-express train service between Tokyo and Osaka were canceled. Some highways were also closed.

The storm, which was blamed for 49 deaths in Micronesia and contributed to more than two dozen in the Philippines, was expected to crawl northward up Japan's coast.

Farther south, another storm, Nakri, hit Taiwan's western coast with downpours of rain that caused several mudslides. Named after a Cambodian flower, Nakri whirled into the island just north of the west-central city of Taichung.

In the eastern coastal Hualien county, a large boulder slammed onto the top of a tour bus that was carrying school children to scenic Taroko Gorge. A 6-year-old girl received minor injuries.

Officials closed Taichung's airport as the storm approached, packing surface winds of 39 mph. China Airlines canceled flights from the southern city of Kaohsiung to Manila, Philippines. The airport was also closed on the Penghu island chain, 36 miles off Taiwan's west-central coast.

Cable television also showed scenes of rocks and mud sliding over narrow mountain roads near the Alishan resort area.

Because of lax zoning laws and a scarcity of land, many Taiwanese have built houses on unstable hillsides. It is common for landslides to carry away or bury homes after heavy rains.

Halong, a third tropical storm, was gaining strength southeast of the Pacific island of Guam. It was expected to be upgraded to typhoon status and possibly hit the nearby Marianas islands later Wednesday.

Along with the damage it caused in Micronesia and the Philippines, where it killed 30 people and injured 41, Chataan's 100-mph winds left the island of Guam without electricity and little or no water pressure in some areas.

President Bush declared the U.S. territory, which is about 3,700 miles southwest of Hawai'i, a disaster area.