8. VERA. Area Affected: Japan.
Japan: Typhoon VERA will long be remembered as Japan's greatest storm disaster. National police said 4,580 persons were confirmed dead with 658 missing. Another 32,285 persons were injured and 1,596,855 left homeless. Damage was estimated in excess of $261 million. Vast areas of crops were ruined, sea walls broken, rivers flooded from accompanying torrential rains, ships beached, houses smashed and communications seriously damaged.
Four days after the disaster thousands were still marooned on rooftops, bodies floated in flooded districts and throngs of refugees were without food and adequate shelter.
VERA dealt a staggering blow to Japan's economy. Food and crops, many ready for harvest, were seriously affected. Railway service in some areas was not expected to resume for at least a month. Damage to roads, bridges and communications was tremendous. More than 200 vessels were sunk.
Some examples of VERA's brutal fury:
In less than three hours on 26 September, VERA turned Nagoya, a modern city, into a complete shambles. The harbor was described as a "sea of dead" and Nagoya lost all function as a harbor.
At Handa, southeast of Nagoya, 300 persons perished when gigantic waves battered the town destorying more than 250 homes.
Sixty persons were buried alive at Kawakami in Nara Prefecture when a landslide crushed 12 houses.
Roofs of 1,000 houses were ripped off a small village in Nagano Prefecture.
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