Farmlands were flooded with muddy water on Wednesday, Aug. 31, a day after Typhoon Lionrock landed in Japan,bringing recordamount of rainfall in Hokkaido and the Tohoku region.
Agricultural cooperatives in the area are rushing to grasp the damage situation, as rivers flooded and swept away the crops which were nearly ready
for harvest. In Iwate Prefecture, at least 12 people were reported dead. With four typhoons hitting the nation in August, farmers are completely at a loss as to how to recover the losses.
■Nearly harvestable sugar beets and potatoes uprooted by storm – Hokkaido
A farmer picks up a damaged sugar beet on a flooded field in Nakajima in the city of Obihiro, Hokkaido, on Wednesday, Aug. 31
A farmer points at a flooded potato field in the Shimokanayama district in Minamifurano, Hokkaido, on Wednesday, Aug. 31.
Burdock plants are seen covered by mud on Friday, Sept. 2, in the town of Makubetsu, Hokkaido, as farmers work on draining the field in the background.
A farmer on Thursday, Sept. 1, picks up a sugar beet drifted to a wheat field in the town of Shimizu, Hokkaido, which was completely destroyed by flood waters.
■Rice paddies and houses devastated – Iwate Prefecture
A tractor is buried on its side in muddy water on a road shoulder in the town of Iwaizumi, Iwate Prefecture, on Wednesday, Aug. 31, after the area was flooded due to heavy rain.
A car covered with mud is seen on Wednesday, Aug. 31, on a sidewalk along the rice paddies in the town of Iwaizumi, Iwate Prefecture, after it was washed away by a flood.