Japan tells 300,000 households to evacuate
as typhoon hits
Published on Sep 16, 2013
2:41 PM

City officials look on a house destroyed by a strong wind caused by an approaching typhoon in Kumagaya, Saitama
Prefecture, north of Tokyo on Monday, Sept 16, 2013. Typhoon Man-yi hit central Japan on Monday, with almost 300,000
households told to evacuate and fears the storm could go on to hit the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. -- PHOTO: AP /
KYODO NEWS
TOKYO (AFP) - Typhoon Man-yi hit central Japan on Monday, with almost 300,000 households told to
evacuate and fears the storm could go on to hit the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.
The typhoon made landfall in Toyohashi, Aichi prefecture, shortly before 8am (7am Singapore time),
packing gusts of up to 162 kilometres per hour, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
Public broadcaster NHK said four people were missing due to landslides or floods, while at least 65 people
were injured and more than 860 houses flooded.
The typhoon was moving north-northeast at a speed of 55 kmh, with the eye of the storm passing within 50
kilometres north of the capital at around noon.
The meteorological agency issued the highest alert for "possibly unprecedented heavy rain" in Kyoto and
neighbouring prefectures, while Kyoto and other local authorities advised a total of some 291,000
households to evacuate.
Television footage showed the banks of the Katsura river in the ancient capital's scenic tourist area of
Arashiyama overflowing and inundating nearby hotels and souvenir shops.
Rescue workers and hotel employees were towing a small rowboat with four tourists on board in kneedeep water.
The Kyoto prefectural government requested the Self-Defence Forces to deploy troops to join sandbagging
and rescue operations.
In Saitama prefecture, north of Tokyo, strong winds ripped off roofs and overturned cars.
The typhoon was expected to hit the northeast, including the Fukushima area, on Monday afternoon
possibly bringing heavy rain to areas near the crippled nuclear power plant.
Operators at the plant said they were on alert amid fears the storm could result in more contaminated water
running out to sea.
Workers were pumping out water from areas near tanks storing radioactive water, from which leaks are
believed to have seeped into groundwater.
"We are on alert for the possible impact of the typhoon at the plant, while pumping out water from areas
near the tanks as rain continues intermittently," said Shogo Fukuda, a spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power
(TEPCO).
"But so far we have not had major troubles at the plant." Around 300 tonnes of mildly contaminated
groundwater is entering the ocean every day having passed under the reactors, according to TEPCO.
About 500 domestic flights scheduled for Monday, a public holiday, were cancelled, mainly those
departing Tokyo, NHK reported.
Railway companies temporarily suspended services on many lines in central and eastern Japan, including
the Shinkansen bullet trains between Shizuoka and Mishima.
Some $380,000 found in safe in flood-hit
Indian town
Published on Sep 16, 2013
3:36 PM
The holy Hindu town of Kedarnath,located in Rudraprayag district in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand. Workers
clearing rubble in a flood-devastated town in the Indian Himalayas have discovered 19 million rupees (S$379,856) in a safe
which had been swept away by floodwaters, police said on Monday, 16 Sept, 2013 -- FILE PHOTO: AFP
DEHRADUN, India (AFP) - Workers clearing rubble in a flood-devastated town in the Indian Himalayas
have discovered 19 million rupees (S$379,856) in a safe which had been swept away by floodwaters,
police said on Monday.
The safe was found on Saturday near the ruins of a bank in the town of Kedarnath that was flattened by
flash floods in June, a police officer said.
"The safe was swept away in the floods but the cash is safe," police Inspector General Ram Singh Meena
said in Dehradun, capital of the northern state of Uttarakhand.
Mr Meena said the money belonged to the State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest nationalised
bank.
"We have deposited the cash in another SBI branch," he told AFP.
The money was found days after a Hindu temple at Kedarnath, a popular pilgrimage site, reopened for
prayers as reconstruction efforts continue across the region.
More than 5,500 people are believed to have died in the floods and landslides caused by heavy monsoon
rains that washed away homes, hotels, highways and cars.
Typhoon hits Japan as Fukushima operator
releases water into sea
Published on Sep 17, 2013
6:03 AM
Hotel guests get a boat ride through a flooded street after the Katsura River was overflooded by torrential rains caused by a
powerful typhoon in the country's popular tourist destination of Kyoto, western Japan, Monday, Sept 16, 2013. Typhoon
Man-yi hit Japan on Monday, leaving three people dead and forcing the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant to
release rainwater with low levels of radiation into the ocean. -- PHOTO: AP
TOKYO (AFP) - Typhoon Man-yi hit Japan on Monday, leaving three people dead and forcing the
operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant to release rainwater with low levels of radiation into the
ocean.
The powerful typhoon made landfall in Toyohashi, Aichi prefecture, shortly before 8am (7am Singapore
time), packing gusts of up to 162kmh, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
Public broadcaster NHK said a 71-year-old woman was found dead as a landslide engulfed her house in
Shiga prefecture, while a 77-year-old woman was also confirmed dead in a separate mudslide in Fukui
prefecture, near Shiga.
Japanese news agency Jiji Press said a third person, a man aged 63, died after falling from a ladder he
climbed to shut a window.
Kyodo news agency, citing local officials, said five people were still missing, while NHK said 128 others
were injured with more than 4,000 houses flooded and at least 270 houses damaged by strong wind or
landslides.
The typhoon, losing strength slightly, left Japan's main island by Monday evening after the eye of the
storm passed within 50 kilometres north of the capital at around noon.
The typhoon also hit the north-east, including the Fukushima area, bringing heavy rain to areas near the
broken plant run by Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco).
Workers were pumping out water from areas near tanks storing radioactive water, from which leaks are
believed to have seeped into groundwater.
"But we decided to release the water into sea as we reached a conclusion that it can be regarded as rainfall
after we monitored levels of radiation," Tepco spokesman Yo Koshimizu said.
According to the spokesman, one litre of the water contained up to 24 becquerels of strontium and other
radioactive materials - below the 30 becquerel per litre safety limit imposed by Japanese authorities for a
possible release to the environment.
However, it was unknown how much water was released to sea under the "emergency measure,"
Koshimizu said.
The typhoon also forced the operator to cancel part of outdoor operations scheduled for Monday, although
there was no damage to the plant following the typhoon, he added.
Around 300 tonnes of mildly contaminated groundwater is entering the ocean every day having passed
under the reactors, according to Tepco.
Earlier in the day, the meteorological agency issued the highest alert for "possibly unprecedented heavy
rain" in Kyoto and neighbouring prefectures, while Kyoto and other local authorities advised some
340,000 households to evacuate.
Television footage showed the banks of the Katsura river in the ancient capital's scenic tourist area of
Arashiyama overflowing and inundating nearby hotels and souvenir shops.
Rescue workers and hotel employees were towing a small rowboat with four tourists on board in kneedeep water.
The Kyoto prefectural government requested the Self-Defence Forces to deploy troops to join sandbagging
and rescue operations.
In Saitama prefecture, north of Tokyo, strong winds ripped off roofs and overturned cars.
About 600 domestic flights scheduled for Monday, a public holiday, were cancelled, mainly those
departing Tokyo, NHK reported.
Railway companies temporarily suspended services on many lines in central and eastern Japan, including
the Shinkansen bullet trains between Shizuoka and Mishima.
Rare twin storms batter Mexico, 40 dead
Published on Sep 17, 2013
6:07 AM
A car lies on its side after a portion of a hill collapsed due to heavy rains in the Pacific resort city of Acapulco, Mexico, on
Sunday, Sept 15, 2013. Authorities scrambled to rescue people stranded in flooded homes in Mexico's resort of Acapulco
Monday after twin storms slammed opposite coasts in a rare one-two punch that has killed 40 people. -- FILE PHOTO: AP
ACAPULCO, Mexico (AFP) - Mexico reeled on Monday from the rare one-two punch of major storms on
opposite coasts that triggered floods and landslides, killing at least 40 people while stranding tourists in
Acapulco.
The Pacific coast was still being battered by the remnants of tropical storm Manuel, which continued to
dump rain after dissipating, while hurricane Ingrid hit the northeast with tropical storm force before being
further downgraded.
Thousands of people were evacuated as the two storms set off landslides and floods that damaged bridges,
roads and homes across the country.
Water rose to almost three metres in parts of the Pacific resort of Acapulco, cutting off the main highway
to the city and marooning tens of thousands of Mexican and foreign beachgoers.
The last time Mexico was hit by two tropical storms in the span of 24 hours was in 1958, officials said.
Never before has it been struck by a hurricane and another storm at the same time.
“More than two-thirds of the national territory has been affected,” Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio
Chong told a news conference.
At least 12 people died when a landslide hit a bus and workers removing earth that had previously fallen
on a road in the eastern state of Veracruz, a civil protection official said.
Some 23,000 people were evacuated in Veracruz with 9,000 housed in shelters, Governor Javier Duarte
said.
The death toll in the state of Guerrero rose to 21 after the municipality of Tecpan, where four rivers
overflowed, reported that six people were killed in a landslide. Another 25 people are missing.
Six more people died in the central states of Hidalgo and Puebla and one in the southern state of Oaxaca,
said national civil protection chief Luis Felipe Puente.
Around 50 towns were affected in Guerrero, with some 238,000 people seeing various levels of damage to
their homes, Puente said, adding that dozens of shelters had opened for some 20,000 people.
With the highway linking Acapulco to Mexico City closed due to landslides and the resort’s airport shut
down due to a power outage, some 40,000 Mexican and foreign tourists were stranded.
The continuous rain slowed the rescue effort as authorities used boats, helicopters and amphibious vehicles
to find survivors, who used their smartphones to send SOS messages on social networks.
The flooding also brought out crocodiles, complicating the rescue work, officials said.
A federal police helicopter rescued 26 adults and four children who were stuck at the airport, where the
access road was flooded. A navy helicopter evacuated 11 people from a residence.
At least 11 deaths were reported in Acapulco, including a family of six whose home was crushed by a
landslide.
“There’s no power and we are surrounded by water,” said Carlos Alvarez, who lives near a neighbourhood
where around 50 two-level homes were flooded.
Residents used inflatable boats to evacuate around 40 people stuck on roofs, he said, complaining that
neither helicopters nor troops guarding the area were helping.
Authorities are working to create an air lift in the town of Pie de la Cuesta to transport people, state
Governor Angel Aguirre told Televisa television.
The storms forced authorities to cancel independence day celebrations in several towns.
In the north-eastern state of Tamaulipas, hundreds of people were evacuated as Ingrid made landfall near
the town of La Pesca.
The storm brought heavy rainfall but was later downgraded to a tropical depression, according to the US
National Hurricane Center.
“We have to be very alert in the northern states,” said National Water Commission head David Korenfeld.
Several communities were cut off by rising waters in Tamaulipas, while authorities rescued two power
company workers whose truck was dragged away by a swollen river.
State-run energy firm Pemex, meanwhile, evacuated three oil platforms off the Gulf coast.
Death toll from Colorado floods rises to
seven
Published on Sep 17, 2013
6:09 AM
Homeowner Chris Ringdahl, right, is comforted by family friend Hillari Hansen, left, in front of her possessions as they
cleanup from the floodwaters in Longmont, Colo., on Monday, Sept 16, 2013. The confirmed death toll from massive floods
in the US state of Colorado has risen to seven, while hundreds more remain unaccounted for, officials said Monday. -- FILE
PHOTO: AP
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - The confirmed death toll from massive floods in the US state of Colorado has
risen to seven, while hundreds more remain unaccounted for, officials said Monday.
Helicopters resumed search and rescue missions, helped by clearer weather after days of torrential rain that
has left over 1,500 homes destroyed and more than 17,000 damaged.
Five teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are bolstering hundreds of state
and local officers trying to reach hundreds of residents stranded by the floods, centered on Boulder County
north of Denver.
On Sunday, torrential rain prevented helicopters from taking off for most of the day as officials put the
number of people unaccounted for at more than 1,200 across the western state.
But on Monday there was even blue sky in places, allowing some 21 helicopters to take to the air.
"We are hoping to take advantage of the weather today and get those rescue operations complete,"
spokeswoman Micki Trost of the Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management
was quoted as saying by the Denver Post.
Three people are confirmed dead in Boulder County, but the state-wide death toll now stands at seven,
Boulder Office of Emergency Management official Nick Grossman told AFP.
"Those are the numbers confirmed to us by FEMA," he said.
Rain began pelting the western state early last week, with Boulder especially hard hit, seeing 18.3cm of
precipitation in about 15 hours starting on Wednesday night.
Flash floods have afflicted 15 counties down a 320km north-south section of the Front Range, where the
Rocky Mountains meet the Great Plains, the Colorado Office of Emergency Management said.
"We've got a heck of a lot of communities dealing with a heck of a lot of water," Jennifer Finch, a
spokeswoman for Weld County north-east of Boulder, told Denver Channel 7 News on Sunday.
On Sunday, traffic on Interstate 25, Colorado's main north-south thoroughfare just east of the mountain
range, was brought to a halt by water covering two of the three southbound lanes, according to an AFP
correspondent on the road.
The number of people unaccounted for was put as high as 1,253 by the state emergency management
office, although Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper put it at 500.
Many of the missing may simply be unable to report their whereabouts, but Mr Hickenlooper warned that
the death toll may increase. "There are many, many homes that have been destroyed.
President Barack Obama has declared a major disaster in Colorado and ordered federal aid to support state
and local efforts. Hickenlooper called the widespread flooding "a heck of a storm."
Although skies were clearer on Monday, weather forecasters warned that scattered storms could still dump
up to an inch of rain in less than 30 minutes, according to KUSA-TV.
Drier, warmer weather conditions are due to return to the battered state on Tuesday, lasting through to
Thursday when there is a chance of showers through the region, it said.