1 killed, 40 injured as tornados hit Ibaraki, Tochigi

MITO. May 7. KAZINFORM  A teenage boy died, around 40 people were injured and up to 500 houses were damaged Sunday after apparent tornadoes hit Ibaraki and Tochigi prefectures, north of Tokyo, prompting Ibaraki Gov. Masaru Hashimoto to ask the Self-Defense Forces to be deployed for disaster relief.

Thunderstorms also caused lightning damage and temporarily disrupted bullet train services on the Tohoku, Yamagata and Akita shinkansen lines, according to local police, firefighters and East Japan Railway Co.

The apparent twister in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, which occurred at around 1 p.m., shattered windows and blew away the roofs of 150 to 200 homes leaving two people seriously wounded, one of whom, 14-year-old Keisuke Suzuki, died after being taken to hospital. The city is located around 50 kilometers northeast of Tokyo, Kyodo reports.

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