Typhoon Hagibis, a catastrophic toll

Japan - By October 16, 2019, Typhoon Hagibis claimed the lives of 74 people, injured more 220 others and left 15 missing ones. In some cities, the water level rose to more than 1m50 in one hour. The country received 1 000 mm of precipitation in two days, that is half the annual rainfall.

Following the floods, 200 schools are closed, 130 000 homes are deprived of running water while another 30 000 homes remain without electricity. Rail traffic, heavily impacted by the typhoon, will experience disruptions over the next two weeks.

To cope with the hundreds of millions of USD in damage, the government is planning to compile an extra budget. It should be noted that bags of radioactive waste were washed away during the floods. These bags come from the Fukushima nuclear accident. Typhoon Hagibis was followed by a magnitude 5.7 earthquake on the Richter scale. The latter hit the center of the country.