Tag Archives: roke

Fukushima

Typhoon Roke comes ashore, heading for direct hit on damaged nuclear plant Fukushima Daiichi, 4 dead!

21 September 2011, Typhoon Roke is moving up the Pacific coastline of Japan, after coming ashore south of Tokyo at Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture.

Sustanted winds are 144 km (89.4 miles) per hour, with gusts up to 155 km (96 miles) per hour recorded at Hachioji City, near Tokyo.

During the past 24 hours, more than 400 millimeters (15.74 inches) of rain has fallen in Tokai region and Yamanashi Prefecture, and more than 200 mm (7.87 inches) of rain fell in northeastern Japan.

At least four people have died, three are missing.  More evacuation orders have been given to at least a half million more people.

The damaged nuclear plant, Fukushima Daiichi, has escaped typhoon damage from previous storms, but Roke looks like it will make a direct hit.

Roke is moving fast and should be approaching the northeastern Honshu prefecture of Fukushima. Already 200 mm of rain has fallen in Fukushima since September 20.  The nuclear plant is already flooding with rain water.

Work to stop the further spread of radiation, like the steel wall around the ocean intakes, and specially treated tarps over the exploded reactor buildings, has been halted.  Tokyo Electric says their workers have tied down everything they could think of that might get blown away.

TEPCo says reactor 1 and 2 have rain water pouring in from the roofs, and Reactor 6 basement is totally flooded.  TEPCo officials insist that none of the radioactive water will leak out.  Yeah right, how many times now have they made such promises?

 

 

International

Typhoon Roke, still offshore, already killed two, causing millions to evacuate

Typhoon Roke is about to hit land, near Tokyo, but has already killed two people, and two people are missing.

A man was killed trying to fix a drain on his roof, and another man was killed when he went to look at a rising river.  A 4th grade boy, and an 84 year old man are missing.

Roke’s wind and rain are causing major damage on land, even though the center of the storm is still offshore.  Currently it’s near Cape Muroto in Kochi Prefecture.

In Gifu and Hyogo prefectures, an evacuation advisory covers about 110,000 people.  In the southern Kyushu prefecture of Miyazaki, nearly 40,000 people have been advised to leave due to risk of mudslides.

In Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, more than one million people have been told to evacuate due to the rising water levels of the Tenpaku and Shonai rivers.

 

International

Roke now a Typhoon, heading towards Honshu

Tropical storm Roke stalled long enough over the warm water near Okinawa, to build into a Typhoon.  Japan’s Meteorological Agency says Roke will track northeast over the seas south of the island of Kyushu, before heading for Honshu, then Hokkaido.

Already parts of Kyushu have been hit with massive rain. Since Thursday about 1,000 millimeters (39 inches) have fallen on the southern island.

Typhoon Roke was moving at 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) per hour as of Monday noon, packing winds of up to 144 kilometers (89.4 miles) per hour.  It’s expected to pick up speed.

 

International

Tropical Storm Roke still hovering near Okinawa

Japan’s Meteorological Agency says that on September 19, Japan time, the storm was hovering over water 110 kilometers (68 miles) west-northwest of Minami Daito Island, Okinawa Prefecture.

Roke is expected to continue to move northward slowly, it might hit Japan’s main island of Honshu on September 20, or later.

Some of the rain forecasts for Monday/Tuesday calls for up to 200 millimeters (7.87 inches) in southern Kyushu, 150 mm (5.9 inches) in northern Kyushu and some parts of western Japan, and 120 mm (4.7 inches) in Okinawa, Amami islands and Kinki region.

International

Tropical Storm Roke to flood southern Japan, major damage expected, dammed up rivers a threat

September 16, Japan’s Meteorological Agency says Tropical Storm Roke could trigger more damage.

The storm is expected to bring up to 40 millimeters (1.57 inches) of rain per hour in Okinawa and the southern part of Kyushu through Saturday.  As much as 250mm (9.8 inches) of rain is expected.

Officials are stepping up their monitoring of rivers that were dammed up by recent record rainfalls from Typhoon Talas.

In Wakayama Prefecture, officials are checking images taken by a surveillance camera near the lake, as well as a buoy used to monitor the water level.

Officials in Totsukawa Village, Nara Prefecture, issued evacuation advisories  due to the possibility of an older lake overflowing.  The lake was formed by landslides 120 years ago.