 Japan's Self-Defence Force soldiers remove snow from a sloap beside a road to prevent avalanche at Tokamachi town in Niigata prefecture, northern 11 January 2005. The death toll from heavy snow in Japan reached 77 as more elderly citizens died in the harsh weather, with officials warning that avalanches could bring further misery 12 January. AFP photo by Jiji Press. |
Police confirmed six more deaths, mostly of elderly people, including a 74-year-old man in the northern island of Hokkaido who died after slipping from his roof shoveling snow.
The number of victims killed in snow-related accidents has topped 100, the highest in more than 20 years, according to public broadcaster NHK.
Injuries have reached 2,100, including a six-year-old boy who remained unconscious after he was buried under a mass of snow which slid off the roof of a play school in Fukushima north of Tokyo, NHK said.
Japan has registered warmer temperatures since the weekend, but the rising mercury coupled by rain has led to fears of landslides in areas still blocked by snow that has piled up since December.
Highway 405 connecting the central towns of Tsunanmachi in Niigata prefecture and Sakaemura in Nagano prefecture was opened again for three hours. It closed earlier this month and was also opened briefly Friday.
Experts flew over the area by helicopter Sunday and found that "a rise in temperature and rain this weekend caused small-scale snowslides, but there was no major change in the places where caution was needed," a Niigata official said.
Another survey of the snow-hit region is due on Tuesday.
"If it is confirmed to be safe, the highway will open twice a day, two hours both in the morning and in the afternoon for residents only," another local official said.
The temperature is expected to fall again mid-week but is likely to rise moderately later in the week, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
It has been Japan's deadliest winter since 1983-1984 when 131 people died in snow-related incidents.
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