Heavy snow kills three, disrupts travel in Japan
PUBLISHED ON DEC 18, 2014 11:53 AM
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Vehicles are seen on a snow-covered street in Obihiro in Japan's northern island of Hokkaido on Dec 17, 2014. -- PHOTO:
AFP
TOKYO (AFP) - At least three people have died in heavy snow that has blanketed swathes of
Japan, with up to two metres of snow in some places and more predicted.
Two elderly women were killed on the northernmost island of Hokkaido, Kyodo News
reported, with one hit by a snow-plough and another buried when a warehouse collapsed
under the weight of fallen snow.
Police said a man died in a traffic accident on snow-bound roads in Hiroshima.
There was also widespread disruption to travel, with around 100 domestic flights cancelled,
adding to the 450 that were grounded on Wednesday, including some international routes,
officials and media said.
Reports said the famous bullet train network was also struggling to stick to its timetables.
The mountain town of Tsunan, near the Sea of Japan (East Sea) coast, was smothered in
185cm of snow, with parts of Hokkaido getting as much as 70cm in 24 hours, the Japan
Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.
The snow is accompanied by strong gusting winds of up to 140 km an hour, which is causing
tidal surges and sparking warnings to stay away from the water's edge.
Forecasters said a powerful low pressure system off the eastern coast of Hokkaido was
bringing much of the misery, and warned there was more to come.
Parts of northern Honshu could expect up to 80 cm of snow by breakfast time on Friday, the
JMA said.
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Four homes razed as Australian crews battle bushfires
PUBLISHED ON DEC 18, 2014 3:06 PM
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MELBOURNE (AFP) - Four homes were destroyed as Australian firefighters struggled to
bring two major blazes under control in Victoria state with high temperatures and gusty
winds ahead of a cool change later Thursday.
Lightning strikes this week ignited 350 fires with several becoming significant, according to
authorities. Some 500 firefighters are tackling the outbreaks with nearly 10,000 hectares
razed.
Two fires in Victoria's northeast - at Lake Rowan-Warbys some 20 kilometres northwest of
the regional city of Wangaratta and Creightons Creek-Longwood just south of Euroa - have
been burning for several days and remain out of control.
"There have been four confirmed house losses but we're still assessing the extent of the
impact on agriculture," Victoria's Country Fire Authority spokesman Lee Miezis told AFP.
"We do understand that one farmer has lost about a thousand head of stock, so it's quite a
significant impact on stock." Officials late Thursday downgraded an emergency warning for
communities around Mia Mia, Meadow Valley and Glenhope in central Victoria after
containing the spread of a fast-moving grassfire.
The weather conditions were set to remain challenging ahead of a forecast drop in the
temperature in the evening.
"As that cold change moves across the state, we are starting to see some stronger winds from
the southwest with the wind speed getting up to about 40 kilometres an hour," Miezis said.
"The winds are switching from the west to the southwest and are getting stronger." The
cooler weather and lighter winds will allow firefighters to strengthen their control lines, put
out burning trees inside fire areas and get the blazes under control, he added.
Control lines involve removing vegetation that fuels fires, using equipment such as
bulldozers or rakes.
Backburning, a tactic aimed at managing the path of a fire by starting a controlled new blaze
in the opposite direction, is also used.
Firefighters have had difficulty putting in control lines as the northeast blazes were burning in
"quite scrubby, rocky, steep country", Miezis added.
He said southeastern Australia looked set to experience an above-normal fire season after an
unseasonably dry spring.
"With that dryness, we've had quite a lot of vegetation dry and there's no real moisture in the
soil," he said.
"In simple terms - a long, hot summer and probably about 12 weeks of increased fire danger."
Wildfires are common in Australia's summer months between December and February.
"Black Saturday", the worst firestorm in recent years, devastated southern Victoria in 2009 as
it razed thousands of homes and killed 173 people.
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Ebola toll nears 7,000; rate of spread slows in Sierra Leone - WHO
PUBLISHED ON DEC 18, 2014 3:37 AM
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Sierra Leonean doctors practise wearing protective clothing in the Ebola Training Academy in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Dec
16, 2014. The death toll in the Ebola epidemic has risen to 6,915 out of 18,603 cases as of Dec 14, the World Health
Organisation said on Wednesday. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
GENEVA (REUTERS) - The death toll in the Ebola epidemic has risen to 6,915 out of
18,603 cases as of Dec 14, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday.
There are signs that the increase in incidence in Sierra Leone has slowed, although 327 new
cases were confirmed there in the past week, including 125 in the capital Freetown, the WHO
said in its latest update.
"A major operation has been implemented to curb the spread of disease in the west of the
country," it said.
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