Hagibis damage to agriculture reaches 57 bil. yen

Oct 20, 2019 | News On Japan

Oct 20, 2019 (NHK) - The Japanese government says Typhoon Hagibis' damage to farming, forestry and fisheries has reached 57 billion yen, or about 527 million dollars.

Officials at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries say the total covers damage reported as of noon on Saturday in 35 prefectures.

Damage to agricultural facilities, such as warehouses and drains, amounted to about 224 million dollars. The figure for rice, apples, and other farm produce was around 57 million dollars.

Landslides that destroyed forest roads caused about 95 million dollars' worth of damage.

But the figure is not known for several prefectures where the typhoon caused flooding of rivers.

The ministry says the typhoon damaged apple orchards and rice paddies in Nagano that were flooded when the Chikuma River overflowed its banks.

Rice fields near the Naka River in Ibaraki Prefecture are reported to have sustained substantial damage.

Rice farmers around the Abukuma River in Fukushima Prefecture had harvested only about half of their crop before Hagibis caused the river to flow over its embankments.

The total damage is expected to rise.

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