Japan, South Korea, hit by snowstorm

(CBC) - Heavy snow has blanketed large parts of Japan and South Korea, killing at least 13 people and bringing chaos to roads and airports in both countries.

The severe weather has been blamed for at least 10 deaths in Japan and three in South Korea.

In Japan, in the northern prefecture of Niigata, snow is piled as high as 184 centimetres. A power company says power was cut to 650,000 homes and businesses in the prefecture at one point.

About 1,000 traffic lights went out in Niigata city and most trains in the prefecture were halted temporarily due to the outage.

In the western prefecture of Fukui, two nuclear power plants automatically stopped operations due to technical problems caused by the heavy snowfalls. More snow is expected in the coming days.

In South Korea, several thousand troops have been deployed to clear highways and remove snow from the roofs of structures to prevent their collapse. There has also been severe damage reported in southern coastal regions where up to a metre of snow has fallen in two weeks.

In some areas, people are being evacuated from homes showing signs of collapse under the weight of snow.

Officials say, so far, the damage is estimated at $150 million US.