High winds and heavy rain have whipped the Japanese cities of Kobe and Osaka and surrounding areas, as a powerful typhoon made landfall, reportedly killing at least eight people and injuring more than 150.

Key points: Eight people have reportedly died, with more than 150 injured

Eight people have reportedly died, with more than 150 injured A 2,591-tonne tanker crashed into a bridge connecting an airport to the mainland

A 2,591-tonne tanker crashed into a bridge connecting an airport to the mainland Reportedly the strongest typhoon to hit Japan since 1993

Typhoon Jebi passed north yesterday across a swath of Japan's main island of Honshu towards the Sea of Japan.

The storm had sustained winds of 160 kilometres per hour, with gusts to 215 kilometres per hour, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

As the typhoon made landfall, a 71-year-old man was found dead under a collapsed warehouse, and a man in his 70s fell from the roof of a house and died, NHK public television reported.

The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said 150 people were injured.

Sorry, this video has expired Japan's Kansai Airport underwater as Typhoon Jebi hits.

More than a million Japanese have been ordered to evacuate by officials amid warnings of flooding and mudslides.

The strong winds sent a 2,591-tonne tanker crashing into a bridge connecting Kansai International Airport in Osaka — built on a man-made island in a bay — to the mainland.

The typhoon overturned cars in Osaka, in the country's west. ( AP: Kota Endo/Kyodo News )

The tanker was also damaged, but its 11 crewmembers were not injured and remained on board, according to the coast guard.

At least three thousand people are reportedly trapped in the airport, transport ministry official Mitsuo Nakao told Associated Press.

NHK public television showed passengers sitting or lying on the floor in the airport terminal in the dark without air-conditioning.

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Tides in some areas were the highest since a typhoon in 1961, NHK reported, with flooding covering the runways at Kansai Airport

Japan's Kyodo News service said it was the strongest typhoon to make landfall in Japan since 1993.

In Osaka, the Universal Studios Japan theme park and US Consulate were both closed.

The strength of the winds also tipped over a truck and a van travelling across a bridge there, pushing the vehicles to the side of the bridge.

In Kyoto, debris from the typhoon hit the glass ceiling of the central train station, causing glass to fall into the atrium below, narrowly missing several people.

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Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also cancelled a scheduled trip to Kyushu, Japan's southernmost main island, to oversee the Government's response to the typhoon, Kyodo said.

The typhoon first made landfall on the island of Shikoku and then again near Kobe on Honshu, before heading out to the Sea of Japan in the evening.

Television footage showed fallen tree branches and high seas overflowing onto low-lying areas.

High waves hit breakwaters at a port in western Japan. ( Kyodo News via AP: Ichiro Banno )

Evacuation advisories were issued for more than 1 million people, and more than 700 flights were cancelled according to Japanese media tallies. High-speed bullet train services were suspended from Tokyo west to Hiroshima.

Tokyo escaped relatively unscathed, with some intermittent squalls.

Jebi — whose name means "swallow" in Korean — was briefly a super typhoon and is the latest harsh weather to hit Japan this summer following rains, landslides, floods and record-breaking heat that killed hundreds of people.

Sorry, this video has expired Typhoon Jebi pushes a huge ship into a bridge near Kansai Airport.

AP/Reuters/Storyful