You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news.
14 rivers flooded
Torrential rain from Typhoon Hagibis has extensively damaged several parts of Japan, leaving more than 376,000 homes without electricity, according to a government spokesperson. Death tolls varied between 14 and 33 people, and the public broadcaster NHK said that 14 rivers across the country had flooded after the typhoon arrived in Tokyo on Saturday evening. One woman died after an attempted rescue by helicopter. [The Associated Press]
68 years in the marriage industry
After 68 years in the business of quick weddings in Las Vegas, Charolette Richards wants to retire. The 86-year-old has owned A Little White Wedding Chapel since 1991 and is an originator of 10-minute nuptials. She estimates that she has done more than 50,000 drive-through weddings. Her current asking price for the chapel is $12 million. [The New York Times]
$125,421 per screen
Box office numbers confirm the hottest ticket in New York and Los Angeles this past weekend was to Bong Joon-Ho’s latest genre-crossing film, “Parasite.” The South Korean movie about the interconnected lives of two families earned a total gross of $376,274 and a per screen average of $125,421, a remarkably high number. If you didn’t get tickets to one of the sold-out events, the distributor NEON will expand its availability to more than two dozen screens next weekend, including to additional cities. [The Wrap]
2:14:04
Kenyan marathoner Brigid Kosgei smashed the women’s marathon world record in Chicago this weekend, crossing the finish line in an astonishing 2 hours, 14 minutes and 4 seconds. The previous women’s marathon record set by British runner Paula Radcliffe had stood for 16 years, and Kosgei beat it by 81 seconds, wearing the same controversial — but clearly effective — Nike ZoomX Vaporfly Next% running shoes as Eliud Kipchoge, who unofficially broke a men’s marathon record this weekend. Kosgei already has a new goal in mind: “I think 2:10 is possible for a lady.” [Runner’s World]
7,900 acres
A quick-moving blaze in Los Angeles that officials have named the Saddleridge Fire has destroyed more than 7,900 acres and killed three people, according to officials. The fire started late on Thursday “in the northernmost Los Angeles County neighborhood of Sylmar, in the San Fernando Valley,” and Cal Fire said 33 percent of it was contained as of Saturday night local time. More than 1,000 firefighters have been assigned to manage Saddleridge, which the Los Angeles Fire Department says has damaged at least 31 structures, 13 of them completely destroyed. [National Public Radio]
2.6 million dead fish
Northern Harvest Sea Farms, a Norwegian-owned company operating in southern Newfoundland, says the number of farmed salmon that died at its facilities is actually an estimated 2.6 million. The company said the mass die-off was due to “a prolonged period of high water temperatures.” [The Canadian Press/Globe and Mail]