Torrential rain pounding southwestern Japan yesterday triggered a mudslide that swallowed four people, and was threatening to cause flooding and more landslides in Nagasaki Prefecture and other regions.
The mudslide in Unzen hit two houses with four residents.
A woman in her 50s was pronounced dead, while a man in his 60s was seriously injured, city officials said.
Photo: REUTERS / Kyodo
Rescue workers were searching for the two other residents.
TV footage on public broadcaster NHK showed rivers in Hiroshima swollen with muddy water gushing down, almost overflowing.
The meteorological agency said that nearly 500mm of rain fell in parts of Nagasaki within 48 hours, exceeding the average for August.
More torrential rain was forecast.
Local authorities issued evacuation advisories to high-risk areas in those regions, affecting more than 3 million residents, but the measure is non-compulsory and a fraction usually evacuate.
“There is a possibility that a grave disaster will occur” in the coming days, a Japan Meteorological Agency official told an emergency news conference broadcast on NHK.
For Hiroshima, “we have issued a special heavy rain warning. This is a level of heavy rain that we have never experienced before,” the agency said in a statement, calling the rain in some areas “unprecedented.”
The agency said that in the 24 hours from 6am yesterday, 300mm of rain is expected in the northern part of the southern main island of Kyushu, with 200mm to 250mm forecast in many other parts of the country.
For Kyushu, it issued heavy rain and mudslide warnings.
Scientists say that climate change is intensifying the risk of heavy rain in Japan and elsewhere as a warmer atmosphere holds more water.
Downpours last month caused a devastating landslide in the central resort town of Atami that killed at least 21 people.
Additional reporting by AFP
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