The closure of a major Japanese airport flooded by a typhoon is raising worries about the impact on tourist traffic. Kansai International Airport officials said they weren’t sure when the airport will reopen. Although a damaged runway had been mostly cleared, other equipment to ensure safe flying wasn’t operating.

Visitors are worried and some are rushing to change flights. About 3,000 passengers stranded at the airport overnight were given blankets and biscuits until they gradually left by boats and buses.

 

 

Japan has long had a reputation for transportation that runs like clockwork. But even that couldn’t hold up to the fury of Typhoon Jebi, whose 160-kilometer (100-mile) per hour winds destroyed buildings, cut off power to more than 400,000 households and left 11 people dead and 300 injured.

Other airports in the vicinity offer only domestic flights. Businesses seeking alternate routes and tourists in a rush to get home must take a train or use highways to get to other international airports, such as Narita in Tokyo, or Fukuoka on the southwestern island of Kyushu.