TOKYO » A powerful typhoon was bearing down Japan, dumping torrential rains and flooding parts of the country’s popular tourist destination of Kyoto, where 260,000 people were ordered to evacuate to shelters.

Typhoon Man-yi, one of the most powerful storms to lash Japan this season, was packing wind speeds of 100 miles per hour Monday morning (today in Hawaii) and headed toward Tokyo.

The storm dumped an "unprecedented amount of rainfall" in Kyoto and its neighboring towns it passed overnight, the Meteorologial Agency said.

Beyond those who sought shelter in Kyoto, hundreds of thousands of others were also ordered to evacuate in western Japan. About 80,000 houses were without electricity in western and central Japan.

NHK public television showed tourists in Kyoto being evacuated on boats towed by rescue workers.

Central Japan Railway suspended bullet train operations between Shin-Yokohama and Odawara stations in Kanagawa prefecture, south of Tokyo, for almost an hour due to heavy rain, public television broadcaster NHK reported on its website. All Nippon Airways Co. canceled six flights between Tokyo’s Haneda airport and Hachijojima island today, NHK said.

The Meteorological Agency issued a flood warning to residents living near the Kokai river in Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo, and lifted an earlier flood warning for the Meguro river, which runs through Tokyo. An evacuation warning was issued for about 4,000 homes in Hiratsuka city, south of Tokyo, NHK reported.

Forecasters expect central and western Japan to receive as much as 24 inches of rain by Monday morning, and areas around Tokyo to get 14 inches of rain, NHK said.

The Associated Press and Bloomberg News contributed to this story.