Rare snowfall in Tokyo leaves 11 dead

The heaviest snow in decades in Tokyo and other areas of Japan has left at least 11 dead and more than 1,200 injured across the country, reports said Sunday.

As much as 27 cm (10.6 inches) of snow was recorded in Tokyo by late Saturday, the heaviest fall in the capital for 45 years, according to meteorologists.The northeastern city of Sendai saw 35 cm (13.8 inches) of snow, the heaviest in 78 years.

In a country famous for its punctuality, trains have been delayed, flights canceled, roads closed, and more than 20,000 households left without power.

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued its first heavy snowfall warning for central Tokyo in 13 years.

http://news.yahoo.com/five-dead-600-injured-snow-storm-hits-japan-020500454.html

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-09/an-three-dead2c-500-injured-as-heavy-snow-hits-japan/5247782

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/02/08/tokyo-hit-by-rare-heavy-snowfall-trains-delayed-fl
ights-canceled-some-roads/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/tokyo-hit-by-rare-heavy-snowfall-trains-delayed/2014/02/08/55a35492-90a0-11e3-878e-d76656564a01_story.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26096121

Thanks to C.H. Stewart, Michael Battle, Sean, James Hutton, Nelson Isada, Evangelos Kalymnios and John at Bayshore for these links

Here in the mountains we got 80cm (31½ inches), which although not unusual doesn’t happen often. Normal for us is 30-50cm per time. The fact that all of the Kanto plain had very heavy snow, some areas up to 40cm is very rare indeed. Heavy snow in my area is not rare we often get, just we don’t often get 80cm at a time.

And the areas that normally get heavy snow only got a few cm’s.