More than 1,000 people in Japan were forced to spend the night in their cars on Thursday after record snowfall blanketed parts of the country.
The first few motorists travelling on an expressway connecting Tokyo with Niigata on the coast of the Sea of Japan found their route blocked on Wednesday evening, according to media reports.
The number of trapped cars grew quickly on Thursday as huge quantities of snow fell on central
and northern Japan. At one point the line of vehicles stretched for 10 miles (16.5km). Members of the self-defence forces were called in to provide food, blankets and fuel to motorists forced to spend the night in their cars.
Japan’s meteorological agency said heavy snow would continue to fall until Friday in the region and warned drivers to look out for frozen roads and avalanches.
Heavy snowfall in central Japan and along the northern coast also cut power to about 10,000 households, prompting the government to call an emergency meeting.
The heaviest snowfall was centred on Niigata and Gunma prefectures, which had about 2 metres (6.6ft) of snow over three days, according to the public broadcaster NHK.
Some of the affected drivers complained they had been left in the dark about efforts to end the gridlock.
“I hardly slept, and I was worried because I had absolutely no information about the situation,” a man who was driving to Tokyo from his home near Niigata told the Kyodo news agency. Yoshinobu Wakiya, who was driving towards Tokyo, said he had been trapped inside his car for 17 hours.
“I never expect this much snow to fall so quickly,” he told the Asahi Shimbun. “This is a life-or-death situation.”
Wakiya said he had been unable to sleep as he had to keep removing snow from the exhaust pipe to prevent potentially deadly fumes from entering his car.
“I haven’t eaten since last night, and I don’t have much water left,” he told the newspaper. “I don’t have any information on what is going to happen. I’m exhausted. I want to lie down and rest in a futon soon.”
