Japan Disaster PM Declares Izu Oshima Island “Severe Disaster Area”

Once again Japanese authorities stand accused of “criminal negligence” for failing to save lives

Japan’s disaster Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited typhoon-hit volcanic island of Izu Oshima on Sunday and declared the devastation caused by the Typhoon WIPHA as a “disaster of extreme severity.”

Just about everyone and their uncle knew typhoon WIPHA was a very intense storm capable of causing major damage, possibly multiple deaths.

Even Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) had earlier warned about the severity of the typhoon, which failed to make a direct hit, describing it as a “once a decade” type of storm.

The storm triggered deadly mudslides on the island destroying homes and burying residents alive on October 16. At least 32 people were killed and about a dozen were missing, presumed dead.

Once again the authorities in Japan have been accused of “criminal negligence” for failing to issue adequate warnings and evacuation alerts as the deadly storm approached, which would have saved dozens of lives.

Related Links

• 70,000 People Told to Evacuate as FRANCISCO Pounds Japan October 25, 2013
• Typhoon WIPHA Dumps 800mm of Rain Over Tokyo October 16, 2013
• Typhoon WIPHA Targets Tokyo October 15, 2013
• Typhoon NARI Chased by TS WIPHA October 12, 2013
• Vietnam Evacuates 250,000 ahead of NARI October 14, 2013

70,000 People Told to Evacuate as FRANCISCO Pounds Japan

All Izu Oshima island residents told to evacuate

Authorities in Japan have also instructed 19,000 households in seven prefectures to evacuate as Tropical Storm FRANCISCO continues to pound the Pacific coast of Japan.

Heavy rain and high winds brought by severe tropical storm FRANCISCO is expected to batter the island by early Saturday.

Typhoon WIPHA hit the volcanic island of Izu Oshima last week, dumping large amounts of rain, which triggered massive landslides, leaving 31 people dead and at least 13 others missing.

FRANCISCO was located near 29.9ºN, 134.9ºE, about 420 km south of Tanabe, Japan, heading northeast at a forward speed of about 33 km/hr, dumping heavy rains on western Japan.  Some areas have reported rainfalls in excess of 600mm, as of 14:00UTC on Friday, October 25.

Severe Tropical Storm FRANCISCO and Typhoon LEKIMA.  VISIBLE/INFRARED satellite image (FIRE-EARTH Enhancement) recorded at 13:30UTC on October 25, 2013. Original image sourced from: CIMSS/SSEC/WISC.

Related News

Back to the Dark Empire Days

Japan’s desperate Prime Minister Abe’s government is reportedly planning a state secrets act meant to curtail public access to information on wide ranging issues including the Fukushima nuclear crisis and tensions with China, said a report.

Under the act whistleblowers could go to prison for up to 10 years. Journalist and other non-governmental persons would receive sentences of up to  five years for encouraging leaks.

“Japan’s harsh state secrecy regime before and during World War Two has long made such legislation taboo, but the new law looks certain to be enacted since Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party-led bloc has a comfortable majority in both houses of parliament and the opposition has been in disarray since he came to power last December.” The report said.

“There is a demand by the established political forces for greater control over the people,” said Lawrence Repeta, a law professor at Meiji University. “This fits with the notion that the state should have broad authority to act in secret.”

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant

The operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is running out of options to store radioactive contaminated rainwater as a very wet FRANCISCO approaches.

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has started  transferring contaminated rainwater into underground pools, originally deemed too leaky. The precipitation from recent typhoons and extreme rain events have been accumulating in barriers around radioactive waste water tanks, reported NHK.

TEPCO has been storing the most contaminated rainwater in tanks and in the basement of a turbine building. But the tanks are now full, the report said.

Related Links

• Coldest Place on or Near the Earth October 24, 2013
• FRANCISCO Drenches Okinawa, Moves Northeast October 24, 2013
• FRANCISCO to Bring More Rain to Sodden Coastal Japan October 23, 2013
• Crimes Against Nature: Water Overflows from 12 Fukushima Barriers October 21, 2013

• Typhoon FRANCISCO and TD 27 Headed for Tokyo October 20, 2013
• FRANCISCO Intensifying to “Extraterrestrial” Storm Force  October 19, 2013
• FRANCISCO Shifts Up Into Major Typhoon Gear October 18, 2013
• Typhoon FRANCISCO Inching Toward Japan October 17, 2013
• FEWW New Hurricane Scale
• Satellite Imagery

Links to Typhoon WIPHA

• Typhoon WIPHA Dumps 800mm of Rain Over Tokyo October 16, 2013
• Typhoon WIPHA Targets Tokyo October 15, 2013
• Typhoon NARI Chased by TS WIPHA October 12, 2013
• Vietnam Evacuates 250,000 ahead of NARI October 14, 2013

Crimes Against Nature: Water Overflows from 12 Fukushima Barriers

Radioactive water may have reached the ocean, says plant operator

Water has overflowed 12 barriers around holding tanks at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, and some of it may have reached the ocean, the plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said on Sunday.

“The utility says workers found water overflowing from five barriers Sunday afternoon. They found additional overflows in seven barriers Sunday evening,” reported NHK.

Although the barriers are 30 centimeter high, they already contained at least 20 centimeters of water due to earlier downpours brought by Typhoon WIPHA. The barriers overflowed after more than 100 millimeters of rain fell in four hours  Sunday afternoon. Workers can pump out the water at a rate of about 1.5 centimeters per day.

“The operator of the crippled plant also says workers released some of the water accumulated inside barriers into the ground. The utility says the water met safety standards for radioactivity set by the Nuclear Regulation Authority.” said NHK.

Other Disaster News in Japan

More rain amplifies misery on Izu Oshima Island

Izu Ōshima Island is keeping its evacuation advisories in effect as town officials brace for more torrential rains that  may cause further destructive mudslides.

Officials in Ōshima have already evacuated more than 580 people and issued evacuation advisories to nearly 2,300 people in 1,200 households on the island on Saturday, reported NHK.

Massive mudslides caused by Typhoon WIPHA last week killed at least 27 people, with 19 others still missing, presumed dead. The typhoon destroyed or damaged more than 300 buildings, and overflowing rivers and mudslides continue to  close roads.

Izu Ōshima, a volcanic island in the Izu Islands, lies about 100 km south of Tokyo and is administered by the Tokyo Metropolitan government.

Related Links

• Fukushima Potentially More Disastrous Than Hiroshima October 18, 2013

Typhoon WIPHA Dumps 800mm of Rain Over Tokyo

UPDATED at 04:00UTC on October 16, 2013

• Typhoon WIPHA has killed at least 14 people in Japan, according to NHK. Most of them victims died as a result of collapsing buildings due to flooding and mudslides.

• The typhoon dumped more than 800 millimeter of rain over 24 hours as it swiped the region. That’s more than double the average for the month of October.

• The storm has left at least 37 people injured in 16 prefectures, said NHK.

• More than 50 people are reported as missing on Izu Oshima island, located about 120km south of Tokyo, according to local reports.

• Authorities had advised 23,000 homes to evacuate.

• “It is the strongest typhoon in 10 years to pass the Kanto (Tokyo area) region,” said senior forecaster at Japan Meteorological Agency.

• Fukushima nuclear plant operators said they were pumping out rainwater from the storage tanks.

• “We are making preparations for proper management of contaminated water. We will patrol places that could have inflows of water (from the typhoon rains),” said Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO).

WIPHA brings heavy rain and strong winds to Tokyo and most of Japan

WIPHA has dumped more than 800 millimeters (31.5 in) of rain over the past 24 hours, twice the average rainfall for the month of October according to Japan Meteorological Agency.

The island of Izu Oshima, located south of Tokyo, received 122 millimeters of rain in a one-hour period Wednesday morning.

WIPHA was still a typhoon force Wednesday morning with sustained winds of about 126km/hr and gusts exceeding 180km/hr. It was located near 36.1°N, 141.6°E, moving NE at 65km/h at of 00:01UTC on October 16, 2013.

WIPHA failed to make landfall. The eye of the storm came to within 40km of land at its closest point near Katsuura, Chiba Prefecture. Probability of the typhoon making landfall was about 78 percent, based on the most favorable conditions, as projected by FIRE-EARTH on Tuesday.

Typhoon WIPHA.  IR satellite image (NHC Enhancement) recorded at 23:32UTC on October 15, 2013. Source of original image: CIMSS/SSEC/WISC. Re-enhanced by FIRE-EARTH.

Typhoon WIPHA. Visible/Shortwave IR (FIRE-EARTH Enhancement) satellite image recorded at 23:32UTC on October 15, 2013. Source of original image: CIMSS/SSEC/WISC.

WIPHA forced airlines to cancel hundreds of flights affecting up to 100,000 passengers. Dozens of bullet trains as well as other train services were also cancelled.

The typhoon affected oil refining marine operations in several prefectures located on coastal Honshu.

More details to follow…

Related Links

• Typhoon WIPHA Targets Tokyo October 15, 2013
• Typhoon NARI Chased by TS WIPHA October 12, 2013
• Vietnam Evacuates 250,000 ahead of NARI October 14, 2013

Typhoon WIPHA Targets Tokyo

WIPHA Currently Large and Strong

WIPHA, the 26th typhoon of the year, was located about 1,040km SSW of Yokohama (211 degrees), Japan, tracking N at about 25km/hr. [Timed at 00:15UTC on October 15, 2013]

Typhoon WIPHA

• Time: 00:15UTC – October 15, 2013
• Movement: N (05 degrees) at 25km/hr
• Position: Near 27.26ºN, 133.94E
• Location: Near 1,040km SSW of Yokohama (211 degrees), Japan
• Max Sustained Winds: 170km/hr [Cat 2B on FEWW Scale]
• Max Wind Gusts: 210km/hr
• Significant Wave Height: ~ 15m
• Source: FIRE-EARTH and others

WIPHA is expected to weaken to a cat 1 storm force before landfall. (Probability of WIPHA making landfall is about 78 percent, as of posting—FIRE-EARTH projection.)

Typhoon Stats for NW Pacific

• The 60 year average (1951-2010) No of Typhoons: 20.9
• No of typhoons so far this year: 26
• Percent Increase: 24.4 [Calculated by FIRE-EARTH blog]

Typhoon WIPHA. Visible/Shortwave IR satellite image recorded at 23:32UTC on October 14, 2013. Source: CIMSS/SSEC/WISC. Enhanced by FIRE-EARTH.

Typhoon WIPHA. Water Vapor (FIRE-EARTH Enhancement) satellite image recorded at 00:32UTC on October 15, 2013. Source: CIMSS/SSEC/WISC.

Typhoon WIPHA. MTSAT-2 IR satellite image (FIRE-EARTH Enhancement)  recorded at 02:00UTC on October 15, 2013. Source: Digital Typhoon

More details to follow…

Related Links

• Typhoon NARI Chased by TS WIPHA October 12, 2013
• Vietnam Evacuates 250,000 ahead of NARI October 14, 2013

Cyclone PHAILIN Carves a Path of Destruction

Coastal Towns Deserted as Deadly PHAILIN Rips into eastern India

Cyclone PHAILIN made landfall as a Cat 4A typhoon with winds of about 220km/h near Gopalpur, Odisha state, at about 15:45UTC, as initially forecast by FIRE-EARTH.

The deadly cyclone had claimed at least a dozen lives, leveling homes, all be it mud huts, uprooting trees and utility posts, and leaving hundreds of towns and villages deserted.

An estimated 600,000 to more than 3 million people were either evacuated, some forcefully because they feared losing belongings, or fled their homes to higher grounds.

More than 12 million people were in the deadly cyclone’s path, which was expected to generate storm surges of at least 3.5 meters.

The small town of Gopalpur, Odisha [formerly Orissa,] has an average elevation of less than 1 meter.

Unsurprisingly, storm surges have pushed water ore than 500 meters inland in Gopalpur and the surrounding low-lying areas, according to local reports.

A BBC reporter, Andrew North, has described the damage as “a scene of apocalyptic devastation” in the city of Brahmapur, near where the cyclone made landfall.

A storm surge of more than 3m high has inundated areas of Ganjam, Khurda, Puri and Jagatsinghpur districts of Orissa and the Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh, reported the Times of India.

PHAILIN will dump at least 25cm on Odisha [Orissa] and the northern parts of Andhra Pradesh through Monday, forecasters said.

The massive amounts of rain can lead to widespread flooding throughout the region.

“We will assess after the cyclone eases … even now the cyclone is on,” said Odisha’s chief secretary. “There has been pretty severe devastation in Brahmapur town.”

Typhoons NARI and WIPHA

Meantime, the outer bands of Typhoon NARI crossed central Vietnam, and WIPHA, this year’s 26th typhoon, continued to intensify over northwest Pacific.

(1-3) Typhoons PHAILIN, NARI and WIPHA at 03:00UTC on October 13, 2013. Source MTSAT-2 via Digital-Typhoon. Enhanced by FIRE-EARTH.

more details to follow….

Related Links

• PHAILIN: A Perfect Super Cyclone October 12, 2013
• Millions Flee Monster Cyclone PHAILIN October 11, 2013
• PHAILIN Becomes a Super Cyclonic Storm October 11, 2013
• Massive Cyclone Drifting Towards E India October 10, 2013
• FEWW New Hurricane Scale
• Satellite Imagery
• FEWW New Hurricane Scale
• Satellite Imagery