17 dead, 90 injured in heavy snowfall in Japan

Death toll rises to at least 17 in massive snowfall in Japan More people were injured in this incident. In a report, the American news media reported that the casualties occurred in other parts of Japan, including the northern part of Japan, during the Christmas weekend.

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The death toll rose to 17 and more than 90 injured after heavy snow fell in northern Japan and other parts of the country over the Christmas weekend, authorities in the East Asian country said.
An elderly woman in her 70s died after being crushed under snow falling from the roof of a buggy in Nagai city, Yamagata prefecture, an official from Japan's Fire and Disaster Management Agency said. More than 80 centimeters (2.6 feet) of snow had accumulated in that region of Japan by Saturday.

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Parts of Japan, including areas mainly along the west coast, were hit by heavy snowfall due to strong winter weather, weather officials said, CNN reported. In addition, snow has blocked highways and delayed delivery services since mid-December.

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The Japan Meteorological Agency reported last week that some parts of the country saw much higher than average snowfall. Japan in particular has witnessed increasingly inclement weather in recent years. Although the climate of this East Asian country is mainly temperate, it varies widely from north to south.

In addition, northeastern regions such as Hokkaido saw heavy snowstorms in December and parts of the south were hit by strong typhoons and rains last September. First, Tokyo experienced a massive heat wave last June. At that time, the country's temperature exceeded a record 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

Meanwhile, in a separate report, the British newspaper The Guardian reported that strong winter weather has caused heavy rain in northern Japan for the past week. Hundreds of vehicles were stranded on the country's highways, donation services were delayed and 11 people died by Saturday.

Further snowfall over the Christmas weekend raised the death toll to 17 and injured 93 as of Monday morning, Japan's disaster management agency said. Among the dead were many who fell while removing snow from roofs or were buried under deep piles of snow that slid off roofs.

Meanwhile, heavy snow has caused an electric power transmission tower to collapse on Japan's northernmost island. As a result, about 20,000 homes were without power on Christmas morning. However, according to Japan's Ministry of Economy and Industry, power connections were restored to most areas later in the day.