It
has not been easy to get up-to-date information, but here is ENENews'
report and an earlier one from the Daily Mail.
This
is from Robert in Tokyo who got to sleep in his own bed rather than a
hotel room
"Well,
the storm has arrived! Strong winds and rain. I just wanna sleep!"
Whilst
this storm did weaken, apart from the bigger picture of climate
change and storms coming out of a much warmer ocean, there is the
question of the effect on Fukushima Dai'ichi.
Every
time a storm like this strikes, although it is not the end of the
world it releases still more radiation into the environment. This
is not something that is going to go away soon, if ever.
It
has not been easy to get up-to-date information, but here is ENENews'
report and an earlier one from the Daily Mail.
This
is from Robert in Tokyo who got to sleep in his own bed rather than a
hotel room
"Well,
the storm has arrived! Strong winds and rain. I just wanna sleep!"
Whilst
this storm did weaken, apart from the bigger picture of climate
change and storms coming out of a much warmer ocean, there is the
question of the effect on Fukushima Dai'ichi.
Every
time a storm like this strikes, although it is not the end of the
world it releases still more radiation into the environment. This
is not something that is going to go away soon, if ever.
Gov’t issues ‘inundation warning’ for Fukushima Daiichi as year’s strongest storm to hit within hours
- Tepco
bracing for overflows
- Officials
warn of landslides and torrential rains… ‘ground-loosening’
south of plant
- Danger
from tornadoes, storm surge, violent waves along coast
13
October, 2014
Reuters,
Oct. 13, 2014: The strongest storm to hit Japan this year battered
the southern islands… early on Monday, brought heavy rain to Tokyo…
[Tepco] said in a statement it had also increased the water transfer
and storage capacity to prevent an overflow of radioactive water
being stored at the [Fukushima] plant…
Yahoo
News,
Oct. 13, 2014: [The] Fukushima nuclear power plant is bracing itself
for the arrival of powerful typhoon Vongfong [which] could reach the
plant Tuesday, authorities said… employees would be patrolling the
plant facilities at all times in order to prevent overflows or an
increase in the contaminated water that accumulates in the basements,
the company said… [Vongfong] was expected to arrive in Tokyo early
Tuesday from where it would head northeast to the Fukushima plant.
Authorities have issued warnings of torrential rains and landslides…
Accuweather,
Oct. 13, 2014: Vongfong brought another round of torrential rainfall
and locally damaging winds… Vongfong still threatens dangerous and
life-threatening conditions to Honshu through Tuesday. Nearly 300 mm
(12 inches) of rain fell in only 12 hours in Sumoto… (TEPCO) took
precautions to prevent problems at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear
Power Station… the storm will still bring life-threatening
conditions areas in it’s path with the greatest impacts expected in
Honshu… The combination of heavy rainfall from Vongfong with recent
heavy rainfall from Phanfone will lead to a heighten risk for
mudslides across Honshu…
The
Japan Times,
Oct. 13, 2014: The
[JMA] said that eastern and northern Japan should expect more than 80
mm of rain fall per hour along the Pacific coast, where tornados,
storm surges and violent waves would all pose dangers.
TEPCO,
Oct. 13, 2014: Preparation
for Typhoon No. 19 (Vongfong) at Fukushima Daiichi NPS —
Installing rainwater guttering on tanks and shielding the dikes from
heavy rain have been completed. Typhoon No. 19 (Vongfong) is expected
to approach Kanto region and could affect Fukushima Daiichi NPS in
next few days. To prepare for the typhoon, TEPCO has [prepared] to
prevent overflow of the accumulated water… TEPCO will have workers
to patrol the premises at all hours and confident that there will be
no overflow…
TEPCO,
Oct. 13, 2014: Very heavy winds are forecasted due to the typhoon,
which could cause electric wires to be torn off and hung down.
Fukushima
safety measures tightened, 500 flights cancelled and 59 injured as
typhoon Vongfong sweeps up the Japanese coast
14
October, 2014
PUBLISHED:
17:14 GMT, 12 October 2014 | UPDATED: 12:28 GMT, 13 October 2014
Safety
measures at the devastated Fukushima nuclear power plant were
tightened today as the strongest storm to hit Japan this year
battered the southern islands of Kyushu and Shikoku.
Typhoon
Vongfong brought heavy rain to Tokyo and caused extensive travel
disruption across Japan, where 820,000 people have been urged to
leave their homes and seek shelter.
Many
trains in western cities were suspended, while more than 500 domestic
flights were cancelled, the public broadcaster NHK said. At least one
overseas flight was cancelled, according to an airline.
Stormy: People struggle with their umbrellas as they fight through the strong wind and rain delivered by Typhoon Vongfong in Himeji, Japan, which surpassed Genevieve for the most intense western Pacific typhoon of 2014, according to Japan's Meteorological Agency
Duty: A traffic policeman stands stoically in the middle of the road as he's buffeted by Typhoon Vongfong's wind and rain
Cleverly done: A man holds his umbrella close to its canopy to stop it from being blown around in the high winds
Mistake! This man, on the other hand, seems to be having a few problems with his umbrella
Turbulent: High waves batter a breakwater at a port of Kawaminami town in Miyazaki prefecture, on Japan's southern island of Kyushu
Incoming: High waves surge towards the port, although the Typhoon's power has weakened somewhat since yesterday
Windy: Trees by deserted streets are blown by strong winds at Kagoshima, on Japan's southern island of Kyushu
About
4,900 households in Tokyo suburbs were without power, media said, and
rain in the city was expected to intensify overnight.
Vongfong
continued to batter the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, 1,000
miles south of Tokyo, where it landed yesterday, and moved up to also
hit Kyushu and Shikoku islands, injuring 59 people, NHK said.
On
Sunday, the wind weakened significantly from the previous day when it
reached a peak of 146mph, which had made Vongfong into a 'super
typhoon'.
Tokyo
Electric Power Co, the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear
power plant, said in a statement it had increased the water transfer
and storage capacity to prevent an overflow of radioactive water from
the plant.
A
major baseball game in Osaka city, between the Orix Buffaloes and the
Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters for the Pacific League playoff, was also
postponed.
More
than 200,000 residents were forced to flee their homes on the island,
some 1,000 miles south of Tokyo, before it was hit by what was
Japan's most powerful storm this year. It was the first time a
Nippon Professional Baseball playoff game was cancelled because of a
typhoon.
The
typhoon, which also caused massive waves on the eastern coast of
China, flooded streets and cut power to more than 60,000 homes.
Residents look on as strong winds whip up towering waves that hit the Shitang Township in Wenling, China on Sunday
Taking shelter behind a sheer cliff, residents of the Shitang Township in Wenling, China, take photos of the waves caused by Vongfong
One man runs for cover as a wave, caused by the super typhoon's strong winds, crashes against the eastern coast of China on Sunday
Brave onlookers stop to take a photo of the dramatic waves as the effects of typhoon Vongfong are felt by Chinese coastal towns
A
satellite image taken of the storm earlier this week revealed that
the eye of the typhoon was roughly 50 miles wide.
After
making landfall on Sunday, the storm lost intensity and was
downgraded from a 'super typhoon' to a tropical storm. Wind speeds
dropped significantly from Saturday's peak of 146mph as the storm
made its way towards Tokyo.
It
is on course to reach Kyushu, the country's third largest island by
Monday. Authorities on the island were forced to halt the high-speed
bullet train this weekend after strong winds blew a plastic sheet
onto the aerial wires on the line.
Meanwhile,
Japanese airlines JAL and ANA cancelled more than 400 flights due to
strong winds.
Early
on Sunday, parts of Okinawa received more than six centimetres of
rain within an hour while some western areas were forecast to receive
total rainfall of over 50 centimetres.
The map above shows the direction that the typhoon is travelling in. It is expected to hit Kyushu on Monday and reach Tokyo by Tuesday
And for the bigger picture...
Why Tropical Storm Vongfong May Just Be The Beginning For Japan
Typhoon
Vongfong arrived at Japan’s Okinawa Island over the weekend. And
while the storm itself weakened during its journey across the western
Pacific Ocean, stronger storms may very well be in Japan’s future.
A satellite image of Super Typhoon Vongfong on Thursday, October 9.
]12
October, 2014
On
Wednesday, October 8, Vongfong actually
hit Category
5 status, ranking it as both a super typhoon and the strongest
typhoon of 2014. “Typhoon” or “hurricane” is simply the name
given in different parts of the world to tropical cyclones that
achieve a certain level of strength. At the low end is a tropical
depression, followed by a tropical storm, and then typhoon or
hurricane. Once past the latter threshold, the storms are measured on
a scale of categories, with Category 1 the weakest and Category 5 the
strongest.
Fortunately
for Japan and Okinawa, Vongfong dropped to a Category
1 on
Saturday and then to a tropical
storm.
Still, at least 31 people were injured by the storm, according
to the
Japanese News Network NHK, while 53,000 households in Okinawa and
over 50,000 in Kagoshima Prefecture were hit by blackouts and
officials advised evacuating
of 90,000 homes and 2,700 homes in the two areas, respectively.
Japan
may not be so lucky in the future, however. A paper put
out back in July by researchers at the National Bureau of Economic
Research found that, if humanity’s carbon emissions continue on a
business-as-usual path, the resulting uptick in cyclone strength from
climate change could cost the world economy $9.7 trillion by 2090.
“We didn’t believe what we saw at first,” admitted Amir
Jina, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Chicago and one
of the study’s authors.
The
modeling showed Japan was the country hardest hit by a considerable
margin, facing around $4.4 trillion in total losses.
The
top 10 countries suffering economic losses from increased storm
strength by 2090.
CREDIT:
WEATHER.COM / HSIANG AND JINA, 2014
China
came in second with around $1.4 trillion in losses by 2090. China and
other parts of South Asia are home to huge concentrations of some of
the world’ poorest populations,which
also face some
of the greatest risk from extreme weather if global warming
continues.
The
United States ranked fifth in economic losses from storms at $855
billion lost.
The
researchers developed their projections by looking at the economic
damage done by 6,700 cyclones in the past. As Weather.com reported,
what they found was that the strongest storms can blow something like
a permanent hole in a country’s economy. Growth continues but at a
lower track than before. That “lost growth” is the economic
damage from the storms. In the U.S., for instance, Jina and his
co-authors found $150 billion in growth had been lost to storms from
1970 to 2008.
The
effect climate change will have on storm activity across the world is
difficult to tease out. But there’s a general consensus in the
literature that — if greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated —
we’re likely to see a decrease in the total number of storms that
reach tropical cyclone strength, but also an increase in their
strength. That in turn shakes out to an increase in the absolute
number of unusually intense storms.
On
Sunday, India prepared for
its own Cyclone,
Hudhud. With winds at 120 miles per hour, the storm is expected to
cause extensive devastation along the coast, and 400,000 people have
already been evacuated. A similar evacuation for Cyclone Phailin last
year is
credited with
keeping the fatalities to a mere 53 people, compared to the 10,000
who died from another storm 15 years ago, before the current
evacuation process was standardized.
But
India may be spared in the future: climate change’s effects on
storms are not evenly distributed, and thanks to a decrease in future
storm frequency in the Indian Ocean, India could actually see about
$264 billion more in
growth by 2090 than it would enjoy absent climate change.
Globally,
however, the losses from stronger storms far outweighed the gains,
delivering the $9.7 trillion net loss.
STARTLING: Super Typhoon Vongfong captured by ISS camera
COURTESY: NASA http://www.youtube.com/user/NASAgovVi...
The cameras on the ISS captured the video of Super Typhoon Vongfong on October 9, 2014.
The powerful typhoon has injured over 40 people on the Japanese island of Okinawa, and is now downgrading from a super-typhoon to a mere tropical storm. But at the peak of its strength it was a startling sight to see from the Earth’s orbit.
Never prone to understatement, here is Kevin Blanch talking
about Vongfong and Fukushima
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