Okinawa and other islands in the Ryukyu Island chain south of Japan were hit with sustained winds of over 70 mph on Tuesday when the strongest typhoon of 2014 struck.
Typhoon Neoguri shattered buildings, damaged stores, and toppled trees as it made its way through the islands.
The Japan Times reported parts of Nagasaki recorded the heaviest rainfall in 50 years with over six inches of rain falling in three hours. Landslides and flash flooding was also reported.
Orders to evacuate to safer shelter were given to 540,000 people in the Okinawa Prefecture and 107,300 people were without power Tuesday night.
Americans stationed at Kadena Air Base were also prepared for the storm. They evacuated aircraft to other bases.
On the base’s website, Birg. Gen. James Hecker gave this statement: “I can’t stress enough how dangerous this typhoon may be when it hits Okinawa. This is the most powerful typhoon forecast to hit the island in 15 years; we expect damaging winds to arrive by early Tuesday morning.”
Currently there has been only one death when a man’s boat was overtaken by high waves from the storm, according to Reuters. Local news reports 25 injuries in the Okinawa Prefecture at this time.
Typhoon Neoguri is expected to hit Mainland Japan by Wednesday night.
A new volcano that erupted from the ocean last November and created it’s own small island has now grown to the point is has completely engulfed a neighboring volcano.
Niijima Island appeared out of the ocean in November and by the end of March created a landmass about a kilometer in length. The island is now 200 feet above sea level at its tallest point and it continues to rise.
Scientists had initially said the island would disappear back into the ocean but now say it’s uncertain how large the island could grow until after the volcano stops erupting.
The island is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire and located about 600 miles south of Tokyo.
Soldiers from the USS Ronald Reagan quickly jumped in to help the victims of the 2011 tsunami that devastated Japan.
The troops were simply fulfilling their long held mission of helping the poor and unfortunate throughout the world.
Now, months later, some of the troops involved in the rescue are finding themselves being diagnosed with cancers that could be connected to radiation exposure. At least 51 Navy sailors have been found to have diseases likely connected to radiation.
Two soldiers are speaking out about the situation.
Quartermaster Maurice Enis said that a few months after their deployment to the coastline a few miles from the stricken Fukushima Nuclear Plant, he found strange lumps on his body. He was diagnosed with radiation poisoning and told his illness would get worse. His fiancée, Jamie Plym, said she suffered gynecological symptoms and hemorrhaging so bad she needed to be hospitalized.
The soldiers are now suing Tokyo Electric Power Company claiming the company did not warn the Navy that the tsunami caused a nuclear meltdown and sent huge amounts of contaminated water into the sea. The troops ended up within two miles of the plant while the company ordered an evacuation of towns as far as 12 miles from the plant for safety reasons.
The soldiers say they don’t blame the Navy which acted in good faith.
The head of the devastated Fukushima nuclear power plant is warning that the 2011 meltdown should be a warning to the world to prepare for the worst.
Naomi Hirose, president of Tokyo Electric Power Company, said the triple meltdown following the earthquake and tsunami should be taken into account when countries build new nuclear power facilities.
“Try to examine all the possibilities, no matter how small they are, and don’t think any single counter-measure is foolproof,” Hirose told London’s Guardian newspaper. “Think about all different kinds of small counter-measures, not just one big solution. There’s not one single answer.”
The interview came as the British government just signed a deal with EDF Energy to build a new generation of nuclear reactors in the country.
A floating island of debris at least three times the size of Great Britain is aimed for the California coastline.
The debris, all from the 2011 tsunami in Japan, is composed of destroyed homes and businesses, cars and boats. While some pieces of debris have washed up on the California shore starting in 2012, scientists expect this giant wave of debris to hit the coastline at the same time.
In addition to the debris, the giant island is bringing potentially destructive non-native ocean life and radioactive water.
Oceanographers say that marine life non-native to the U.S. west coast usually dies as it crosses the Pacific Ocean because of most shipping routes. However, the path of the debris has kept to water temperatures that would allow some species to survive. If the marine life is able to adapt to the California coast, scientists are concerned it could be devastating to the native life.
NOAA says that so far 1,600 debris reports have been conclusively linked to the tsunami.
The U.S. Geological Survey has reported a 6.3 magnitude earthquake has struck Taiwan.
The report from the USGS says the quake struck around 7:02 p.m. local time and was centered in a remote mountain area 28 miles southwest of the city of Hualian. The quake was shallow with a depth of only 7.5 miles.
Residents in the capital city of Taipei, 95 miles from the epicenter, said that buildings swayed for more than 10 seconds.
Taiwan’s railway service immediately suspended all operations to check tracks for possible damage. There were no immediate reports of serious damage or casualties but because of the remote location of the epicenter full reports could take time.
Taiwan is located on the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire.
A magnitude 7.3 earthquake struck off the Fukushima region of Japan, according to the U.S. Geological Service.
The epicenter was located 231 miles east of Japan’s Honshu Island. The tremor was felt 300 miles away in Tokyo.
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning at 1:14 p.m. EST for Fukushima Prefecture.
Source: USA Today – USA Today: 7.3 magnitude quake strikes east of Japan
Rescuers in Japan have been working around the clock to find survivors of Typhoon Wipha, which has killed at least 18 people according to official reports.
The typhoon triggered landslides and storms Wednesday that left almost 40 people missing on Izu Oshima island, south of Tokyo. The typhoon closed schools and shut down airports in the capital city.
Rescuers were teaming with police officers to dig through piles of mud, collapsed houses and other debris looking for survivors or bodies.
“I’d like to offer an apology because some people could have been saved if the town had issued an evacuation advisory or order,” the mayor of the island, Masafumi Kawashima, said according to the BBC.
The heavily damaged Fukushima nuclear plant reported increased radiation levels because of damage from the typhoon. Contaminated soil flowed into a ditch leading to the sea and one the tanks storing radioactive ground water overflowed.
A third accident with radioactive water from storage tanks has exposed at least six workers to radioactivity according to Tokyo Electric Power Company.
The plant has been suffering a series of accidents since the 2011 tsunami that caused meltdowns in three reactors. The plant has been pumping in large amounts of water to keep the reactors cool since the accident and have been storing them in unreliable storage tanks.
TEPCO reported a worker removed a pipe connected to a water treatment system and six workers in the location of the tank were sprayed with contaminated water. The company said they have not yet been able to determine the level of radiation each worker was exposed to.
On Monday, the plant experienced a minor emergency when a worker accidentally switched off power to pumps that sent water into the reactors to cool them.
The operator of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant admitted Thursday that a second tank containing highly contaminated water overflowed sending radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean.
The leak was the second in less than two months.
Japan’s government is closely monitoring Tokyo Electric Power Company amid worldwide concerns the company cannot handle the massive cleanup associated with the meltdowns of the Fukushima reactors.
TEPCO said that the leaked water contained 200,000 becquerels per liter of strontium 90. The legal limit for emission of strontium 90 is 30 becquerels per liter. The tank reportedly overflowed after a worker miscalculated how much the tank could hold and because the tank is tilted because of an uneven location.
TEPCO says the radiation is mostly confined to the harbor around the plant and should not impact other countries because the ocean would dilute the radiation. The company has also found elevated levels of radiation around other tanks suggestions a design flaw within the tanks.
