| Telegraph.co.uk | - |
At
least 13 people have been killed in Japan as the most powerful typhoon
in a decade rolled across the eastern part of the nation.
Most powerful typhoon to strike Japan in 10 years leaves trail of death and destruction
Typhoon Wipha causes widespread damage along Japan's Pacific coast and leads to multiple fatalities
Rescue workers search among collapsed houses following a landslide caused by Typhoon Wipha on Izu Oshima island, south of Tokyo Photo: REUTERS
5:59AM BST 16 Oct 2013
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At least 14 people have been killed in Japan as the most powerful typhoon in a
decade rolled across the eastern part of the nation.
Forewarned of the strength of Typhoon Wipha, Tokyo Electric Power Co. took a
series of measures to cushion the impact of the storm, including halting
construction work to rebuild sea walls destroyed by the March 2011
earthquake and tsunami.
Equipment and tools were secured, while rainwater was pumped out of the
protective pools built around the base of storage tanks for radioactive
water at the site.
A spokeswoman for TEPCO told The Telegraph that rainwater was measured for
radioactivity and released into the surrounding land.
“We had prepared for the typhoon and there have been no abnormalities at the
site,” the spokeswoman said.
Elsewhere across eastern Japan, hundreds of flights were cancelled, schools
were closed, thousands of people were advised to evacuate areas at risk of
flooding and railway services were severely affected during the morning rush
hour.
Thirteen of the dead were on Oshima Island, 80 miles south of Tokyo, which felt the full force of the storm and received more than 4 inches of rain an hour at the peak of the typhoon. Several other island resident are still missing, some beneath 30 houses that collapsed, according to Kyodo News, while two teenagers are reported to have been swept out to sea in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo.
A women also died in western Tokyo after being swept away in a flooded river.
High waves in the Sea of Japan have also been blamed for the sinking of a Panamanian-flagged cargo ship off the south-east coast of South Korea, with nine of the crew killed and two more listed as missing.
The typhoon is the 26th of the season and was generating winds of more than 110mph at its centre.
Authorities expect the typhoon to ease to an extra-tropical cyclone later on Wednesday as it continues to move up the east coast of Japan.
Thirteen of the dead were on Oshima Island, 80 miles south of Tokyo, which felt the full force of the storm and received more than 4 inches of rain an hour at the peak of the typhoon. Several other island resident are still missing, some beneath 30 houses that collapsed, according to Kyodo News, while two teenagers are reported to have been swept out to sea in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo.
A women also died in western Tokyo after being swept away in a flooded river.
High waves in the Sea of Japan have also been blamed for the sinking of a Panamanian-flagged cargo ship off the south-east coast of South Korea, with nine of the crew killed and two more listed as missing.
The typhoon is the 26th of the season and was generating winds of more than 110mph at its centre.
Authorities expect the typhoon to ease to an extra-tropical cyclone later on Wednesday as it continues to move up the east coast of Japan.
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