The surge of seawater on March 11, 2011, also flooded the electricity generators powering the cooling system at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, causing three of the four reactors to go into catastrophic meltdown. Explosions at the plant scattered clouds of radioactive dust over a vast area of northeastern Japan and caused more than 150,000 people to flee in panic.

Source: Washington Post March 09, 2021 18:56 UTC