9 Dead in Nursing Home as Typhoon Slams Japan

2 others dead elsewhere as Typhoon Lionrock hits
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Aug 31, 2016 7:05 AM CDT
9 Dead in Nursing Home as Typhoon Slams Japan
A flooded nursing home, center left, is seen in Iwaizumi town, northern Japan, on Wednesday.   (Uncredited)

At least 11 people were found dead in Japan on Wednesday, most of them elderly residents at a nursing home, as heavy overnight rain from Typhoon Lionrock left towns flooded across the country's north. Police discovered nine bodies at the facility in the town of Iwaizumi, an official tells the AP. Authorities have found two more bodies—one in the same town and the second in the town of Kuji—in Iwate prefecture, still rebuilding from the March 2011 tsunami and earthquake, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. Footage on Japan's national broadcaster NHK showed the nursing home partially buried in mud, surrounded by debris apparently washed down in the swollen river. A car by the home was turned upside down.

At another nursing home, a rescue helicopter sat atop a flat roof of the facility, airlifting residents, each wrapped in a blanket and carried by their helpers. Japan's military was sent to help in the rescue and cleanup effort. Further north, on the island of Hokkaido, at least two rivers broke through their banks, NHK said. The disaster management agency said at least one person went missing in a car that went down with a bridge torn away by the flood. Hundreds of people were also trapped in buildings and isolated in several towns in Iwate. Typhoon Lionrock made landfall Tuesday evening about 310 miles northeast of Tokyo. It was the first time a typhoon has made landfall in the northern region since records began in 1951. (More Japan stories.)

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