Japan draws on emergency fund to pay for aftermath of typhoon
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warned on Tuesday of a "prolonged" impact from one of the most destructive typhoons in decades to hit the country, with a toll that has now risen to at least 53 dead.
Typhoon Hagibis brought record-breaking rainfall, caused extensive flooding and power outages, forcing the government to approve a special budget for disaster response.
In a parliamentary session, Abe said the rescue effort from the storm that hit central Japan over the weekend was "continuing around the clock."
"It is urgent to provide adequate support for the victims," Abe said, according to a translation from Japanese published in Japan Times.
Create a More Connected Minnesota
MPR News is your trusted resource for the news you need. With your support, MPR News brings accessible, courageous journalism and authentic conversation to everyone - free of paywalls and barriers. Your gift makes a difference.
"There are concerns that the impact on life and economic activities will be prolonged," he said.
Abe said the government would draw on a 500 billion yen ($4.6 billion) special reserve to pay for the storm.
The figure of 53 killed in the typhoon was given by Abe, but officials said it did not include at least another nine presumed dead. Public broadcaster NHK, which has consistently cited higher figures for the dead from Hagibis, on Tuesday placed the toll at 68. Kyodo News, citing information gathered from local authorities, reports that at least 19 people were still missing.
The country's infrastructure ministry said embankment collapses affecting 47 rivers in 66 locations had been confirmed as of Tuesday, but officials said they still don't have a complete picture of the damage.
About 34,000 homes were without electricity and 110,000 were without running water, the government said. More than 30,000 people were still in shelters as of late Monday.
In hard-hit Nagano, on the main island of Honshu, rainfall hit a record of 134.5 millimeters (5.3 inches) in a 24-hour period.
Sixty-eight-year-old resident Mayumi Shibata temporarily returned to her flooded home on Monday.
"I can't believe that something like this actually happened," she told Mainichi Shimbun.
Early Sunday morning, Shibata's husband took his 97-year-old mother to a local evacuation shelter in Nagano, but she chose to stay behind thinking that the flooding wouldn't be too serious.
"I have a cat, so I thought if I took it to the evacuation shelter, it would cause trouble to other evacuees," she told Mainichi.
She sent her husband worried messages by phone as the water kept rising through the night. She was eventually rescued from an upper floor.
When Toshitaka Yoshimura, a retired carpenter in Nagano, returned to his home after staying at an evacuation center during the storm, he was stunned by what he saw, according to The Associated Press.
His house was a muddy mess, with doors knocked out and furniture tossed about and covered in dirt.
"I put a lot of effort in this house," Yoshimura said. "I made all the furniture with my wife. Now look what happened in one day," he said. "Now this makes me want to cry."
Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.