Wednesday, October 16, 2013 1:22:45 AM
At least 13 dead, 50 missing as Typhoon Wipha grazes Japan
Updated 1 hour 11 minute ago
Photo: Rescue workers search for survivors among collapsed houses on Izu Oshima island, south
of Tokyo, after a landslide caused by Typoon Wipha on October 16, 2013. (Reuters/Kyodo)
At least 13 people have died as Typhoon Wipha churned past Tokyo, causing landslides that swallowed houses on a Japanese island.
Around 50 people are unaccounted for after five houses were destroyed or swept away by landslides and floods on Oshima island, which sits about 120 kilometres south of the Japanese capital.
A further three people are missing in the greater Tokyo area, officials and reports said.
"We've confirmed seven people died because of the typhoon but we don't have further details here at this point," an Oshima police official said.
Emergency workers have rescued two people who were trapped inside a destroyed house, broadcaster NHK said, adding that police and firefighters have not been able to get to many areas.
The bodies of two of those who died were discovered in a swollen river, while one other was pulled from a crushed house, NHK said.
"City hall and fire station officials are doing rescue work in places accessible," a local official said.
The local authority has not been able to confirm the whereabouts of 50 of the island's more than 8,300 residents.
It is not known if they are simply unable to make contact or if their situation is more grave.
Live footage has showed severe storm damage to the tourist island known for its camellia flowers.
Mud, mangled trees and other debris are piled up around houses, while many local residents have sought shelter in an evacuation centre, reporting that dirty water had been gushing into their homes.
Tokyo Metropolitan Police is to dispatch about 50 officers to the island as reinforcements, Jiji Press said.
Further north, the operator of the battered Fukushima nuclear plant has released some rain water trapped inside its barrages, but says that its radiation reading is within safety limits.
It reported no ill-effects on the power station, where thousands of tonnes of radiation-polluted water are being stored in tanks after being used to cool reactors.
Typhoon Wipha, which has not made landfall, brought heavy rains and strong winds to Tokyo's metropolitan area, heavily disrupting the morning commute for hundreds of thousands of people.
At a train station east of Tokyo, a large landslide underneath the track left sleepers exposed, a spokeswoman for Keisei Electric Railway said.
The Keisei line is one of the major rail access ways to the busy Narita Airport, the main international gateway to Tokyo.
More than 400 flights to and from Tokyo have been cancelled, most of them domestic, according to major Japanese airlines All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines.
Two flights between Tokyo and Seoul and another two flights between Tokyo and Hong Kong were among the cancellations, ANA said.
Altogether, the cancellations affected plans of about 61,600 travellers, the airlines said.
At 11:00 AEST, the typhoon was located in the Pacific some 160 kilometres east of Koriyama in Fukushima prefecture, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
It was moving north-east, gradually shifting away from Japan, the agency said.
AFP
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-16/typhoon-wipha-tokyo-weather-fukushima-nuclear-hurricane-cyclone/5026396
.. i just heard the 26th typhoon this year ..
See also:
Once-A-Decade Typhoon Threatens Already-Leaking Fukushima Nuclear Plant
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=93037888
Updated 1 hour 11 minute ago
Photo: Rescue workers search for survivors among collapsed houses on Izu Oshima island, south
of Tokyo, after a landslide caused by Typoon Wipha on October 16, 2013. (Reuters/Kyodo)
At least 13 people have died as Typhoon Wipha churned past Tokyo, causing landslides that swallowed houses on a Japanese island.
Around 50 people are unaccounted for after five houses were destroyed or swept away by landslides and floods on Oshima island, which sits about 120 kilometres south of the Japanese capital.
A further three people are missing in the greater Tokyo area, officials and reports said.
"We've confirmed seven people died because of the typhoon but we don't have further details here at this point," an Oshima police official said.
Emergency workers have rescued two people who were trapped inside a destroyed house, broadcaster NHK said, adding that police and firefighters have not been able to get to many areas.
The bodies of two of those who died were discovered in a swollen river, while one other was pulled from a crushed house, NHK said.
"City hall and fire station officials are doing rescue work in places accessible," a local official said.
The local authority has not been able to confirm the whereabouts of 50 of the island's more than 8,300 residents.
It is not known if they are simply unable to make contact or if their situation is more grave.
Live footage has showed severe storm damage to the tourist island known for its camellia flowers.
Mud, mangled trees and other debris are piled up around houses, while many local residents have sought shelter in an evacuation centre, reporting that dirty water had been gushing into their homes.
Tokyo Metropolitan Police is to dispatch about 50 officers to the island as reinforcements, Jiji Press said.
Further north, the operator of the battered Fukushima nuclear plant has released some rain water trapped inside its barrages, but says that its radiation reading is within safety limits.
It reported no ill-effects on the power station, where thousands of tonnes of radiation-polluted water are being stored in tanks after being used to cool reactors.
Typhoon Wipha, which has not made landfall, brought heavy rains and strong winds to Tokyo's metropolitan area, heavily disrupting the morning commute for hundreds of thousands of people.
At a train station east of Tokyo, a large landslide underneath the track left sleepers exposed, a spokeswoman for Keisei Electric Railway said.
The Keisei line is one of the major rail access ways to the busy Narita Airport, the main international gateway to Tokyo.
More than 400 flights to and from Tokyo have been cancelled, most of them domestic, according to major Japanese airlines All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines.
Two flights between Tokyo and Seoul and another two flights between Tokyo and Hong Kong were among the cancellations, ANA said.
Altogether, the cancellations affected plans of about 61,600 travellers, the airlines said.
At 11:00 AEST, the typhoon was located in the Pacific some 160 kilometres east of Koriyama in Fukushima prefecture, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
It was moving north-east, gradually shifting away from Japan, the agency said.
AFP
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-16/typhoon-wipha-tokyo-weather-fukushima-nuclear-hurricane-cyclone/5026396
.. i just heard the 26th typhoon this year ..
See also:
Once-A-Decade Typhoon Threatens Already-Leaking Fukushima Nuclear Plant
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=93037888
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