Japan typhoon Nangka kills 11,000 farmed blue-fin tuna in Japan. The damaged is accumulated to be costing over $10 million, according to Japanese local media, Saturday.
Japan typhoon Nangka made landfall in southwestern Japan on the night of July 16 and slowly moved northward before turning into a tropical depression.
Nangka made landfall in the eastern part of Shikoku Island with a strength equal to that of a Category 1 hurricane in the Atlantic or eastern Pacific (maximum sustained winds of 119-153 kph or 74-95 mph).
At least two people have been killed as a result of the storm, according to the Associated Press. More than 30 other people have suffered injuries from the storm.
Japan typhoon Nangka made landfall in Japan late Thursday, lashing the country with heavy rainfall before petering out over the Sea of Japan early Saturday.
More than 2 feet of rain were reported in parts of Kōchi, Wakayama, Nara and Mie prefectures in the central part of the country. Many rivers went out of their banks as a result. Heavy rains came well in advance of landfall as well, bringing up to 10 inches of rain to northern parts of the Greater Tokyo area.
Torrential rain and gusts of wind wreaked havoc in various parts of western Japan, also causing high waves and clouding sea water in the fish farm near the Pacific coastal town of Kushimoto, Kyodo News and the Asahi newspaper reported.
The storm caused the sensitive bluefin tuna to panic, the Asahi said, with the Mainichi daily saying the waves had driven many of them into a barrier.
The loss of the bluefin tuna — a pricy delicacy served as sushi — cost growers about 1.29 billion yen ($10.42 million), the reports said citing the local government.
A local government official was not immediately available at weekend.
Bluefin is usually the most expensive fish available at Tokyo’s Tsukiji, the biggest fish and wholesale seafood market in the world, with a 180-kilogramme (380 pound) wild tuna auctioned for 4.51 million yen ($36,400) in January.
But environmentalists warn that the surging global popularity for the fish is placing “unsustainable pressure” on the species, increasing the demand for farmed tuna in Japan.
Typhoon Nangka killed at least two people as it lashed Japan last week, triggering floods as authorities urged more than 230,000 residents to evacuate. IMAGE/ Jiji Press/AFP/FileHigh waves crash into the coast at Hyuga in Miyazaki prefecture, Japan’s southern island of Kyushu on July 16, 2015 after typhoon Nangka.
