Japan’s weather agency recorded as much as 23 centimetres (9.2 inches) of snow in some parts of Tokyo, the biggest snowfall since February 2014. The weather paralysed Monday evening’s commute as millions of workers battled to get home in one of the world’s most populous cities. Notoriously hard-working Japanese employees were urged to knock off early but this did not prevent delays and crushes at major stations. Public broadcaster NHK said at least 180 people had sustained minor injuries on the frozen streets and there had been around 700 traffic accidents, police said. Cars became trapped in a tunnel, sparking a 10-kilometre-long tailback from Monday evening through early Tuesday morning, broadcasters said. And for the second day running, dozens of domestic and international flights departing from and arriving at the Japanese capital were scrapped due to the snow, with more than 9,000 people stranded overnight at Narita airport, officials said. Airport officials and airline staff handed out water, snacks and sleeping bags to the unlucky passengers. “I had planned to visit the US after graduating from university but my flight was cancelled. Why today?” an exasperated female student told NHK. Heavy snowfall is common in northern areas of Japan but rare in the capital, which last saw this amount of snow in 2014. The sun was shining brightly on Tuesday morning, but forecasters predict the mercury will stay well below zero this week, causing treacherous roads, and warned of more injuries. The greater Tokyo area will see lows of minus… [Read full story]
Thai protesters on Wednesday tightened their hold on Bangkok airport, where two people were wounded in a blast and thousands of travellers left stranded by demonstrators vowing to topple the government. Two grenade attacks elsewhere in the capital deepened the sense of lawlessness after demonstrators stormed the airport Tuesday night, dramatically stepping up their campaign against Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat. Suvarnabhumi Airport, a three-billion-dollar showpiece hub for travel throughout Southeast Asia, was closed down as guards from the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protest movement sealed off roads to the facility. The PAD said it completely controlled the airport --…... [read more]
Thousands of Australians are stranded by floodwaters and some could remain isolated for up to a week after torrential rains hit the country's east coast, emergency officials said Monday. Although flooding was easing, thousands of people in towns in the northeast of New South Wales and southern Queensland have been cut off by four days of heavy downpours, officials said."The number of people directly affected, there are some 3,000 people who remain isolated by flood waters," New South Wales State Emergency Service spokesman Phil Campbell told AFP.Campbell said Coraki, a town of 1,500 people some 150 kilometers south of Brisbane,…... [read more]
Flooding across southern Thailand has killed 11 people and stranded thousands on storm-swept holiday islands as the navy's only aircraft carrier joins a rescue operation, officials said Wednesday. Victims were either swept away by the rising waters, or buried in mudslides as the unseasonably wet weather deluged the homes and businesses of around a million people in what should be one of the hottest months of the year. Residents were left without electricity in many areas as the waters rose, while road, rail and air links to the southern region remain closed. Thousands were stranded on the tourist islands of…... [read more]
Flooding caused by monsoon rains have stranded hundreds of thousands people in Bangladesh and India, and a lack of boats, food and drinking water has hit rescue and relief work, officials said on Tuesday. In low-lying Bangladesh, more than half a million people have been marooned in towns and villages in the north of the country after the Brahmaputra and Padma rivers burst their banks. A local official in Bogra district said she had received frantic calls from people in flooded villages calling for help. "Please send us a boat," Furti Begum quoted one desperate villager as saying in a…... [read more]
Thousands of people remained stranded in western Japan on Tuesday as the death toll from a fierce typhoon rose to 42, heaping more misery on a nation recovering from the March earthquake and tsunami. Torrential rain brought by powerful Typhoon Talas, which made landfall Saturday and was the deadliest in seven years, caused rivers to swell and triggered floods and landslides that swept away buildings, homes and roads. More than 50 people were still missing, local authorities told AFP, while Japanese media reported another 100 or so could not be contacted in hard-hit Wakayama prefecture. In Shingu city and Nachikatsuura…... [read more]
