One dead as snowstorm causes 130-car pile-up

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Daily US Times: A huge snowstorm has struck a highway in northern Japan, causing a 130-car pile-up, killing at least one person and injuring 10.

The snowstorm blanketed a stretch of the Tohoku Expressway in Miyagi prefecture at around noon on Tuesday.

Some 200 people have been caught up in the long pile-up and rescuers are currently at the scene.

In recent weeks, Japan has been hit by severe snow storms with some parts of the country seeing double the average expected snowfall.

Images from the highway show the sheer scale of the pile-up.

Officials had already enforced a 50km speed limit on the road due to visibility.

There was a maximum wind speed of about 100km/h at the time of the incident, local weather officials said.

Those who were involved have been given food and drinking water, and have been provided with blankets to keep warm, NHK News reports (in Japanese).

The snow has affected some of the country’s high-speed railway network, with a number of train services in the Tohoku region cancelled.

The region is expected to record up to 40cm (15 inches) of snow in the next 24 hours, according to local media.

Japan has been experiencing a large amount of snowfall this winter.

Heavy snow left more than 1,000 vehicles stranded last month on the Kanetsu expressway for two days.

The weather was so bad that an emergency meeting was called and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga called on members of the public to be cautious.