In Japan, more than 1,000 people had to spend the night in their cars on Thursday after being stranded on the roads due to heavy snowfall for days. Authorities helped those trapped in the snow with blankets and food. Traffic on the railway line connecting Tokyo to northern Akita has been cut.
Forecasters say the heavy snowfall from Tuesday will continue even Friday. The most serious situation is in Niigata prefecture on the shores of the Sea of Japan, where it has snowed two meters in some places.
In the southern prefectures of Gifu and Hyogo, 50 people were completely cut off from the snow by the outside world, where trees and poles fell, power lines broke under the weight of snow and ice.
The snowfall so far has injured 15 people and a woman has died, she was buried while snowboarding in the mountains of Niigata prefecture.
