Deadly Tornado Rips Through Eastern Japan

One killed, many injured as powerful tornado, severe storms batter eastern Japan

At least one person was killed and dozens more injured in Tsukuba city, Ibaraki prefecture, as a powerful tornado, strong storms, hail and heavy rain battered eastern Japan.

The storms destroyed or damaged hundreds of homes and cut power to at least 25,000 customers, reports said.

“Television footage from Tsukuba showed houses swept from their foundations, overturned cars in muddy debris and fallen concrete power poles.” AFP reported.

Unlike Japan’s most other urine-infested cities, Tsukuba Science City (pop: 225,000) is a planned city developed in the 1960s located about 60 km (~40 miles) northeast of Tokyo. The city is home to dozens of academic and research institutes.

Injuries were also reported in neighboring Tochigi prefecture, which was affected by the storms.

Following the Fukushima Daiichi  nuclear disaster last year, evacuees from the radiated zone reported that city officials in Tsukuba had refused to allow them access to shelters unless they had gone through radiation checks and carried medical certificates from the prefectural  government declaring that they were “radiation free,” reports said.

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