Heavy snow leaves 17 people dead in Japan

VOICE AIR MEDIA

Heavy snowfall across large parts of Japan has killed 17 people over the last 10 days, with thousands of homes suffering power outages, Japanese officials said Monday.

Much of the country’s west coast as well as the northern region of Hokkaido have seen persistent heavy snow in recent days.

Some areas have seen almost a metre of snowfall in 24 hours, including the town of Oguni in northeastern Yamagata region, local media said.

Japan’s weather agency has warned residents in the affected regions to avoid travel where possible, after cars got stuck on roads in heavy snow.

Government officials said Monday that 17 people have been killed and dozens more injured in the snow since December 17.

National broadcaster NHK reported the dead included a man who fell from a roof while clearing snow and a woman found dead of suspected carbon monoxide poisoning in a car.

In Hokkaido, tens of thousands of homes have lost electricity in recent days as the snow brought down power lines, though most connections have now been restored.

The heavy snowfall is expected to ease from Monday.

Snow is capable of wrecking havocs on human existence. In 2021, Texas witnessed severe damages on infrastructure.

This year, Nervous Texans are preparing for a freezing blast of Arctic air but it is not predicted to be a repeat of the disastrous winter storm that struck the state in 2021, crippling large parts of the state’s power infrastructure and killing scores of people, The Guardian reported.

Residents had been warned to brace for extremely cold weather and to stock up on essentials like bottled water and non-perishable foods in case of power outages and food supply chain issues like those experienced during winter storm Uri in February 2021, when millions of Texans were left without power and 246 people died.

But experts think this storm will not hit Texas quite as hard.

AFP