Stranded people begin leaving typhoon-hit airport in Japan

About 3 000 passengers stranded by a typhoon overnight at an offshore Japanese airport have begun returning by boat and by bus over a partially damaged bridge to the mainland.

Japanese broadcaster NHK showed aerial footage on Wednesday morning of the boat and a caravan of buses bringing people back from Kansai International Airport. The airport remains closed.

Typhoon Jebi swept northward across the mid-section of Japan's main island on Tuesday, peeling roofs off buildings, toppling power poles and flooding the airport that serves Osaka, one of Japan's largest cities. Japanese media tallied at least nine deaths.

More than 1 million households remain without power on Wednesday morning.

Jebi has been downgraded to a tropical storm and is heading north of Japan.