(Vatican Radio) : In Japan, a typhoon has left at least 17 people dead and about 50
missing. As Alastair Wanklyn reports from Tokyo, the storm caused damage across a
wide area.
High winds and heavy rain triggered mudslides, destroying homes
and blocking roads.
The damage was worst on the island of Izu Oshima, where
water and mud tore through almost 300 houses around dawn, crushing the buildings and
sweeping away residents unable to flee.
In Tokyo, one woman died after falling
into a flooded river. Rescuers found her body ten kilometers downstream.
And
high winds off the coast of South Korea left several sailors dead when their cargo
ship dragged its anchor and drifted into a harbour wall. Conditions were so rough
South Korean coast guard crews reportedly took two hours to reach the ship, which
sank a short while later.
At railway stations and airports across the region...
...many
trains and flights were cancelled.
And at the Fukushima nuclear plant workers
braced for heavy rainfall, fearing it would result in a surge in contaminated runoff
around the ruined reactors. So, they emptied some storage reservoirs in advance, pouring
low-level radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean; but the storm passed, causing
no reported damage there. Listen