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14-yr-old boy killed, dozens injured after tornado hits Tsukuba

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@Farmboy Where are you? I'm in Chiba (half an hour to Ginza). I thought the weather was great until a couple of hours ago. It was nice this morning when I went for a walk around the Edogawa River.Now the wind is whipping like crazy.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I'm from Mito , the capital of Ibaraki. My parents said it was sudden heavy hailstorm that they have never seen. I think it is terrible that Ibaraki is suffering from two big disasters , the Great East Japan Earthquake and today's heavy storm.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

I have never seen a tornado this big in Japan!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q60ztaPtuo8&feature=related

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Quote: "Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which went into multiple meltdowns from last year’s tsunami, was not affected by Sunday’s tornado or storm, TEPCO said."

What if it had got hit? Are they prepared?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Here in southern Tochigi (about an hour by road from Tsukuba) the weather was beautiful this morning; then a little after lunchtime the sky suddenly went dark, there were rumblings and lightning in the distance and it started to rain. Within minutes the storm was directly overhead and we had 1cm-plus hailstones clattering in the street, followed by torrential rain. Now the rain has stopped but there's still a quite strong steady wind and the field behind the house is flooded.

NHK is saying that one 14-year-old boy is in a serious condition.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

checked out that youtube video. wow. my prayers are with those.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

I was just talking to a friend on Friday about how, when the sky went suddenly very dark, I said it was sort of like tornado weather. We then went on to talk about how rare they are. I'm not surprised there was one, even though two days after the fact and from a different storm. I'm glad no one was killed in it, though, and hope those injured recover completely.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Oops, just saw one person did indeed die. RIP.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

RIP little man!

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

RIP 14 year old.

They had a tornado in Hyogo on Saturday! Strange weather and mother nature is certainly not happy with us.

While I appreciate the youtube video, the guy in the car driving was putting his life at risk. Pull over under and over pass and crawl up under. Flying glass is what gets most people in tornadoes from my understanding.

Crappy weather for Golden week. Rain, rain, rain. Sat afternoon was okay and it just finally cleared up here but rain, rain and wind in Kansai.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

cleoMAY. 06, 2012 - 05:25PM JST

Here in southern Tochigi (about an hour by road from Tsukuba) the weather was beautiful this morning; then a little after lunchtime the sky suddenly went dark, there were rumblings and lightning in the distance and it started to rain. Within minutes the storm was directly overhead and we had 1cm-plus hailstones clattering in the street, followed by torrential rain. Now the rain has stopped but there's still a quite strong steady wind and the field behind the house is flooded.

Same story over here Cleo and I'm in Tsukubamirai City. To be honest, I didn't even realize we had a tornado going on nearby if it wasn't for my good friend that called me terrified on the cell to see if I was ok... oh gawd!

RIP 14 y.o. Boy :-(

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

WOW! No idea that Japan had tornadoes.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

The news is suggesting a super cell.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

erm... a supercell.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Tornado = 竜巻 tatsumaki ('dragon roll'); 竜 = dragon (simplified version); 2012 = Year of the Dragon. Hmmmmmmmmm.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Having had a few close calls with tornadoes here in my part of the U.S., I definitely have sympathy for those who survived or lost a loved one in the Tsukuba tornado.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

So young, so sad!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I have heard the Chinese have an interesting curse, "May you live in interesting times!" I feel sorry for those that went through this tornado for there is nothing much you can do but try to stay out of the way of flying debris. We have seen quite an increase in them here in the United States and in places that we don't normally worry about.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

wow tornadoes in japan i thought it was just earthquakes and tsunamis, but tornadoes tooo? japan gots it rough...rip kid

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Wow. I had never actually seen anything like that (I searched on Youtube). We don't get them often here. It's very powerful, it is sad that the small child died :(

0 ( +1 / -1 )

So sad to hear about this. The poor family of the boy. Sympathies for all of them.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I believe this is the worst tornado ever to hit Japan. The devastating power of it was evident on NHK's news report last night.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Scared my partner because we're only the next prefecture along from Ibaraki :/ and RIP to that young boy. Thoughts are with his family :(

0 ( +0 / -0 )

i saw it on the news this tatsumaki, i was like eeeeh?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Looks like storm chasing can be a common sight nationwide. Not just on Central United States mostly on Texas.

But for it's size & severity, I put it as an EF2, until this scale is put to Japanese usage

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Very strange and crazy weather here in Japan this year!! Too bad for that 14 year old that died. RIP

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Tornadoes are very rare to unseen i hear. But there was a huge one in Hokkaido in 2005 or 6

0 ( +0 / -0 )

On average 20.5 tornadoes and 4.5 waterspouts occur per year in Japan.

From AMS Journals online.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I saw this on the news. Poor kid. His house was not one of those wooden houses. By the looks of the debris, it was a sturdy looking house made of concrete. But the tornado swept it right off the foundation. Just wow.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Around here, a wooden house is demolished then a concrete is poured for the foundation then viola! a brand new prefabricated house is put together in a week.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Time for a storm cellar here too?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I was attending a birthday party yesterday in Nakano near Shinjuku and I noticed a low dark cloud. I watched it for a few minutes and told my friends that this could be a possible tornado cloud back home in US. Then a few minutes later we caught a hail storm with about marble size stones. Later when I found out one touched-down, I was shocked. I hope Ibaraki recovers fast from this tragedy.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

How rare is this event? No article I saw answered that question. Nor, did any answer whether or not is this more likely to happen in the future. Tornadoes are caused by upper level disturbances where hot and cold air mix. The warmer than usual conditions may have help create the event. The question is where this will happen again and how often. The jet stream usually comes right over the Kanto area. The number and strength of tornadoes have been increasing every year. So, is this an isolated instance of an example of what is to come?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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