Japan typhoon death toll climbs to 74, rescuers search for missing people
A man walks with his son near flooded houses, in the aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis, in Yanagawamachi district, Date City, Fukushima prefecture, Japan October 16, 2019. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun
DATE, Japan (Reuters) - Rescue workers in Japan searched for the missing on Wednesday as the death toll from one of the worst typhoons to hit the country rose to 74, public broadcaster NHK said, many drowned by flooding after scores of rivers burst their banks.
Public broadcaster NHK said 12 were missing and more than 220 injured after Typhoon Hagibis lashed through the Japanese archipelago at the weekend. Throughout the eastern half of the main island of Honshu, 52 rivers had flooded over.
Men crash the glass as they clean debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis in Yanagawamachi district, Date City, Fukushima prefecture, Japan October 16, 2019. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun
(Click https://tmsnrt.rs/31c0feP to see an interactive graphic plotting the path of Typhoon Hagibis)
Residents in Fukushima prefecture, which has seen the highest number of casualties, were busy dumping water-damaged furniture and rubbish onto the streets. Many elderly remained in evacuation centres, unable to clean up their homes.
In Date city, not far from the site of the nuclear disaster in 2011, farmer Masao Hirayama piled damp books in the street in front of his house, adding to a mound of rubbish from the neighbourhood.
Student volunteers clean debris from an elder's home in the aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis in Yanagawamachi district, Date City, Fukushima prefecture, Japan October 16, 2019. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun
He said the water had reached about 2 metres (6.6 feet) deep in his house, when he and his son were rescued by boat and taken to an evacuation centre. His wife and grandchildren had stayed with relatives through the storm.
"I feel down," Hirayama, 70, said, adding that the flood had swept away all his green houses and farming equipment. "All that is left is the land."
Hirayama said he had rebuilt his house in 1989, raising the ground level following a flood in 1986. His family plan to live on the second floor until he can make repairs, which he reckons could take three months.
A man cleans debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis in Yanagawamachi district, Date City, Fukushima prefecture, Japan October 16, 2019. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the government would spend 710 million yen ($6.5 million) to facilitate disaster relief.
(Reporting by Tim Kelly; writing by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
A student volunteer holds a pictute as she cleans debris from an elders' home, in the aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis in Yanagawamachi district, Date City, Fukushima prefecture, Japan October 16, 2019. REUTERS/Soe Zeya TunBanknotes are hung to dry at a home in the aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis in Yanagawamachi district, Date City, Fukushima prefecture, Japan October 16, 2019. REUTERS/Soe Zeya TunStudent volunteers Atsuki Sato, 18, and Hiroki Nagasawa, 17, clean debris from an elders' home, in the aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis in Yanagawamachi district, Date City, Fukushima prefecture, Japan October 16, 2019. REUTERS/Soe Zeya TunStudent volunteers Luna Shishido, 18, and Yuki Endo, 17, look on as they clean debris from an elders' home in the aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis in Yanagawamachi district, Date City, Fukushima prefecture, Japan October 16, 2019. REUTERS/Soe Zeya TunA woman walks past debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis in Yanagawamachi district, Date City, Fukushima prefecture, Japan October 16, 2019. REUTERS/Soe Zeya TunPeople rest at an evacuation centre in the aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis in Yanagawamachi district, Date City, Fukushima prefecture, Japan October 16, 2019. REUTERS/Soe Zeya TunA man cleans debris in the aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis in Yanagawamachi district, Date City, Fukushima prefecture, Japan October 16, 2019. REUTERS/Soe Zeya TunPeople rest at an evacuation centre in the aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis in Yanagawamachi district, Date City, Fukushima prefecture, Japan October 16, 2019. REUTERS/Soe Zeya TunFILE PHOTO: Destroyed houses are seen, in the aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis, in Koriyama, Fukushima prefecture, Japan October 15, 2019. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun
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