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Heavy rains and powerful winds have battered Asia. Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes. While many have seen their power supplies cut off.

In the Philippines, power was gradually restored to millions of homes in and around the capital of Manila after Typhoon Conson hit the city harder than expected.

Power supplies were cut off across Metro Manila and surrounding provinces as Typhoon Conson swept through the country Wednesday.

Many remain without power.

Renato Judilla, restaurant owner, said, "It's very difficult without electricity. It's dark, it's hard to cook, we can't even serve cold water."

Crisencia Rosales, Principal, Elementary School, said, "It's difficult for the children to attend class because of the heat, and it's dark, not to mention that it's so congested in the school-- it's not conducive to learning."

According to local officials, typhoon Conson killed 37 in the Philippines. 42 people are missing.

Although Conson was downgraded to a tropical storm Thursday, the Philippines' weather bureau says it still expects to regain strength as it heads towards southern China and northern Vietnam.

Thursday morning, the eye of the tropical storm was over Wenchang City of China's southernmost island province of Hainan, leading to winds of up to 90 kilometers per hour in the area.

More than 24-000 fishing boats have taken shelter in harbors around Hainan in anticipation of the storm.

The local government is carrying out rescue operations.

The storm is expected to move into Guangdong and Guangxi, bringing heavy rain there.

Also in Asia, torrential rains flooded several towns and cities across southern and western Japan, triggering landslides and forcing thousands to evacuate to higher ground.

According to local media, local governments recommended about 300,000 people be evacuated from their homes. At least two people have been killed.

Japan's Meteorological Agency says more rain is expected Thursday.

(Xinhuanet)