The Cruel Wind

Howling in from the Pacific, Typhoon Vera last week smashed Japan with winds up to 135 m.p.h. The industrial city of Nagoya (pop. 1,300,000) was plunged into darkness, water rose in the streets, and the collapse of an apartment building pinned 84 in the wreckage. Eighteen miles south at Handa (pop. 68,000), gale winds and high seas crashed a 1,000-ton ship against the sea wall, and the raging ocean burst through, sweeping away 250 homes. In central Japan, rain-choked streams surged over their banks, and 85 bodies were taken from the raging Nagara River alone. Japanese railroads, cut in 120 places, virtually ceased to run. With more than 6,000 dead, injured, and missing, and more than 800,000 homeless, Vera became the worst storm to hit Japan since 1934.

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