Heavy snow damages property as death toll across Japan hits 30

Unusually heavy snow killed at least 30 people in Japan in the past two weeks, officials said on Tuesday, as the government deployed troops to help clear huge drifts that left residents in the country's north struggling to leave home.

Authorities recorded up to 4.5 meters of snowfall in parts of the worst-hit northern region of Aomori where many of the deaths took place. A major weather system has dumped huge volumes of snow along the Sea of Japan coast in recent weeks, with some central and northern areas of the main Honshu island seeing more than twice the usual amounts.

The central government has deployed troops to help local authorities cope and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hosted a special cabinet meeting to instruct her ministers to do all they could to prevent further deaths.