Heavy snow in Japan caused one death and derailed a train Sunday, with the weather agency expecting cold conditions to continue. A 67-year-old man was found dead in Fukui prefecture in western Japan after he apparently fell to the ground while shovelling snow from the roof of his house, local police said.
Nearly two meters (6.5 feet) of snow had fallen in the area.
A 60-year-old man in central Ishikawa prefecture also fell from the roof of his house while clearing snow. He was in a serious condition and remained unconscious, police said.
At least five other people have died in Fukui alone this winter season by falling from roofs or suffering strokes or cardiac arrests while clearing snow.
Sunday morning, a train in Fukui derailed after running over compacted snow. None of its 35 passengers was injured, according to Fukui Railway Co.
Nearly 100 domestic flights were cancelled due to snow, according to national broadcaster Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK). Shinkansen bullet trains were running at slower speeds than usual due to snow.
Across the nation, heavy snowfalls toppled powerlines and caused power outages for tens of thousands of households. The meteorological agency has issued warnings of heavy snow, avalanches and strong winds across the country.
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Death Toll At 30 In Northern Indian Cold Snap
Lucknow, India (AFP) Dec 17 – At least five more people froze to death as unseasonably cold weather gripped northern India, taking the death toll there to 30 as meteorologists warned Saturday of heavy fog in the coming days.
"The toll has now gone up to 29 in the state as four more people died of cold overnight," police spokesman Surendra Srivastava said in Lucknow, the provincial capital of Uttar Pradesh.
Another cold-related death was reported in the neighbouring state of Haryana, officials said.
Most of the victims in Uttar Pradesh — India's most populous state and one of its poorest — were homeless, Srivastava said, as the local administration ordered authorities to move beggars into government-run winter shelters.
"Keeping in view the bad weather and the increasing number of deaths, the process has already started," announced state relief commissioner A.K. Singh.
The temperature overnight in Lucknow slid to three degrees Celsius (37.4 degrees Fahrenheit), the weather office said, adding the mercury was likely to dip further across Uttar Pradesh.
Temperatures also fell below minus 3.6 degrees Celsius in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, where tens of thousands of people were made homeless by the October 8 earthquake that ravaged the Himalayan region.
In the Indian capital New Delhi, the weather office announced a slight respite from the chill but warned the somewhat warmer temperatures would bring fog this week, which every year disrupts road, air and rail traffic.
The winter takes a heavy toll each year around South Asia, as poverty forces many homeless people to live outdoors or in flimsy shacks designed for the equally hot summers.
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Montreal Paralyzed By Record Snowfall
