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BEIJING, Sept. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- In Japan, tens of thousands of people have been ordered to flee their homes as heavy rain swept through parts of the country. Typhoon Etau smashed into Japan on Wednesday, then moved out into the Sea of Japan, but the heavy rain continued to drench the country.
The torrential downpours have also exacerbated a contaminated water problem at the Fukushima nuclear plant as it overwhelmed the site's drainage pumps. A spokesman for the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power, or TEPCO, said hundreds of tonnes of contaminated water have poured into the ocean.
Japan's national broadcaster, NHK has reported that authorities in the Tochigi prefecture have ordered more than 90,000 residents to evacuate, while another 116,000 were advised to leave their homes.
The chief forecaster at Japan's meteorological agency said the country had not experienced rainfall on such a scale before, and issued special warnings for the Tochigi and Ibaraki prefectures.
(Source: CNTV.cn)
