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Huge downpour wreaks havoc in central Japan

A house destroyed by a landslide is pictured in Hachioji, on the outskirts of Tokyo, yesterday after fierce rains lashed central Japan, killing at least one woman. PHOTO: AP/KYODO NEWS

One woman was found dead and another was missing as torrential rain drenched central Japan, leading authorities to urge an entire city of nearly 400,000 people to evacuate, officials said.

Heavy rain since late on Thursday has flooded hundreds of houses and roads, triggered landslides and destroyed bridges and river banks.

The worst-affected city was Okazaki, some 300km southwest of Tokyo, which was hit by 146mm of rain per hour early yesterday.

“I’ve lived here for 70 years but never experienced anything like this before,” a man told public broadcaster NHK.

Another man said: “You could call it a ‘guerrilla’ downpour. It just lashed down suddenly.”

TV footage from a helicopter showed inundated rice fields and roads with cars and buildings half-submerged.

Police recovered the body of Suzue Kuroyanagi, 76, in an inundated house. Her husband had called rescuers, saying water had come up to his chest and his wife was swept away.

The city in Aichi Prefecture advised all of its 376,000 residents to evacuate temporarily. However, only 50 people evacuated with most staying at home as the rain moved away by early afternoon, a disaster prevention official in the city said.

The government set up an emergency center at the prime minister’s office and sent troops to help relief and rescue efforts, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said in Tokyo.

An 80-year-old woman who was living in one of damaged houses went missing. Her home was flooded by a nearby river and the foundation caved in.

“She had a feeble back and legs and was living alone. I guess she had trouble running away,” a worried neighbor told NHK.

Two men, 73 and 79, were also missing.

A newspaper deliveryman, Masaaki Ueno, 58, remains in a critical condition at a hospital in Ichinomiya after he fell into an irrigation ditch along with his bicycle.

Hachioji, a western suburb of Tokyo, was also blasted with record rains, triggering landslides that destroyed several homes and derailed a train. No one was injured, but hundreds on their way to work in the city suffered delays.

Other train services in Tokyo and surrounding regions were temporarily suspended, houses were flooded and cars were submerged due to the heavy rain.

The rainfall overnight registered the second heaviest since September 2000, when 10 people died in eastern Japan, the meteorological agency said.
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