A powerful typhoon that barrelled through Japan and threatened the crippled Fukushima

A powerful typhoon that barrelled through Japan and threatened the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant killed at least 11 people including a woman aged 101, officials and reports said today.

Typhoon Roke, which churned across the main island of Honshu and through the already disaster-ravaged northeast, caused flooding and triggered landslides in an echo of a vicious storm earlier in the month that killed around 100 people.

But it did not cause any further damage to the battered nuclear power plant, as had been feared, its operators said, after workers had scrambled to secure the facility to prevent more radiation from seeping out.

Public broadcaster NHK and Jiji Press news agency put the death toll at 11, with four people missing and 367 others injured.

Roke fizzled into an extratropical depression today afternoon as it veered off the northern main island of Hokkaido, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

A series of strong typhoons have hit Japan, which is still recovering from the massive quake and tsunami that left around 20,000 people dead or missing.

Source AFP