Toyota halts output at 12 factories due to typhoon

TOKYO, July 10 Reuters reported that Toyota Motor Corp said on Wednesday that it had halted production at 12 factories as Typhoon Chata'an bore down on central Japan.

"Due to safety concerns caused by the typhoon we have decided to stop the second shift at 12 of our factories," said spokeswoman Hisayo Ogawa.

The company, many of whose domestic factories are located in Aichi prefecture, central Japan, said this would affect production of between 5,000 to 6,000 vehicles.

It plans to make up the difference with extra shifts later on but has not decided when.

In Gifu, central Japan, officials have recommended some 16,000 people be evacuated due to the danger of flooding after one man went missing, swept away by a swollen river.

Some domestic flights were cancelled and heavy rain warnings were issued in Tokyo and the surrounding Kanto region.

Raging across the Pacific earlier this month, Typhoon Chata'an has triggered landslides that killed dozens in Micronesia and left a trail of destruction in its wake in the Philippines.