Japan: Snow storm deaths rise to 19 with more than 1,600 injured. Perhaps more snow midweek – 170214 1640z

Hundreds of passengers rested on benches and floors under blankets at Haneda airport as public transport services were suspended. Japan�s road, rail and air travel services faced further disruptions on Saturday, reports and officials said, after a fresh snowstorm killed three people and injured 850 others following last week�s deadly blizzard.

Snow began falling on Friday morning in the capital Tokyo and piled up to 26cm by early Saturday, a week after the heaviest snowfall in decades left at least 15 people dead and more than 1,200 injured across the nation.

A driver was killed on Friday in a crash involving his car and a truck on an icy road in Shiga, central Japan, while a farmer died after a tractor overturned on a snow-covered road in southwestern Oita, local media said.

In a separate snow-related accident, a driver was killed and three others injured on an expressway in central Shizuoka, the news reports said. Public broadcaster NHK said some 850 people, including one in a coma, have been injured in snow-related accidents across the nation since snow hit western Japan late on Thursday.

Drivers were struggling to move their cars in the capital�s residential district of Setagaya, while snow started melting and flooding some roads in downtown Tokyo. Television footage showed hundreds of passengers resting on benches and floors under blankets at Haneda airport in Tokyo as public transport services were suspended due to heavy show.

At least 628 flights, mostly on domestic routes, were cancelled on Saturday at Haneda and other airports in eastern Japan, NHK said, a day after more than 260 flights were grounded due to heavy snow.

Two commuter trains collided at Motosumiyoshi station in Tokyo early on Saturday leaving 19 passengers injured, officials said. The accident occurred as train services were disrupted due to the storm but it was not immediately clear if the collision was directly related to the bad weather. Transport authorities are investigating the case. The storm also caused delays and suspensions on the �shinkansen� bullet train services and the closure of a number of highways across the country.

Some 187,000 households lost power mainly in eastern Japan due to snow and strong winds, NHK said.

The meteorological agency continued warning of heavy snow in eastern Japan as well as strong winds and high waves along coastal areas, which may cause snow-slides.

Last week, as much as 27cm of snow was recorded in Tokyo, the capital�s worst snowfall for 45 years. While much of that snow had melted, the remains of larger piles as well as some slightly diminished snowmen were still in evidence across the city.

Sunday, 16 February, 2014 at 16:36 (04:36 PM) UTC RSOE

Update

The death toll from a severe snowstorm that has swept across Japan has reached 19, with parts of the country being almost at a standstill.

Media and officials said Monday that the extreme weather, which sparked widespread transport chaos in central, eastern and north eastern parts of the country, left more than 1,600 injured.

Officials added that hundreds of cars are stuck on some mountain roads and rescuers are delivering emergency aid to them. The snowfall has also caused major disruptions to air traffic and widespread power outages have been reported in several cities.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has promised to send a government team to help the struggling area. “We will do everything we can to protect the lives and possessions of people in cooperation with local governments and relevant ministries,” he told the parliament on Monday. The recent heavy snowfall first began in Japan on January 8.

It was the heaviest snowfall in the Asian country decades, which left 11 people dead and more than 1200 injured. Snow began falling again on Friday morning. The snowfall also caused major disruptions to air and ground traffic. Japan’s largest domestic airline network All Nippon Airways (ANA) said the snow grounded around 350 domestic and international flights

(Image: JMA) Current warnings (Click image for source)

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Heavy snowfall has blanketed wide swaths of the pacific coastline of Japan Friday and Saturday causing 2 deaths and over 1,200 injuries across the country. 137 homes reported damage due to roof collapse or trees falling on them after the heavy we snow piled up on Friday.

According to JMA more than one meter of snow accumulated west of Tokyo in Kofu City in Yamanashi Prefecture, as of 6 AM on Saturday. That�s the heaviest snowfall the city has seen since record-keeping began 120 years ago.

Central Tokyo had 27 centimeters of snow, exactly the same as one week ago and the heaviest in 45 years. Yokohama beat that out with 29CM of snowfall accumalated over night Friday in to Saturday.