A dispatch ceremony for snowplows to remove snow on national highways in Akita Prefecture ahead of the snow season was held in Akita City on the 6th.
The dispatch ceremony was held at the Akita Disaster Prevention Station in Shinya-cho, Akita City, which serves as a base for snowplows and other vehicles, and was attended by about 50 people, including staff and workers from the Akita River National Highway Office, as well as police officers.
Akira Matsumoto, director of the Akita River National Highway Office, encouraged the students, saying, "There is a forecast of a warm winter this season, but we do not know what will happen, such as heavy rains in July and intense heat in August.
After this, the workers boarded a large snowplow and a vehicle that sprayed anti-icing chemicals to check the operation, and 17 vehicles turned on their yellow rotating lights and went out one after another with the signal to dispatch.
The Akita River National Highway Office manages a total of about 240 kilometers of national highways and the Japan Sea Tohoku Expressway, and 67 vehicles will work 24 hours a day from this month until the end of the snow season.
Takumi Abe, director of the Akita River National Highway Office and the Akita National Highway Maintenance Branch Office, said, "We have a perfect system in place, but if it snows all at once, we may not be able to keep up with snow removal.