Japanese rescuers yesterday continued their search for victims of freak rains that have triggered floods and landslides across wide swathes of Kyushu and left at least 18 people dead and hundreds of others displaced, public broadcaster NHK reported.
About 1,900 policemen and soldiers, using heavy machinery, braved the rain and grappled with debris of driftwood and mud that have cut off roads and clogged flooded homes.
Authorities have warned of more heavy rains and potential landslides. The downpour has been caused by a low pressure over the Pacific that has sent warm, moist air into Japan’s seasonal rainy front.
Photo: AFP
In Fukuoka and neighboring Oita, the hardest hit areas, 18 people have been killed and 14 have been injured, while about 570 have been left in the state of isolation and more than 20 still unaccounted for, NHK said.
The government was doing its “utmost” to recover those missing or stranded, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said in a rare weekend press conference.
“Considering the feelings of those whose families are missing, I want to rescue as soon as possible,” Kiyoharu Kawano of the Ground Self-Defense Force said.
Thousands of people have been evacuated to makeshift shelters in school gyms and public buildings.
Local residents tackled cleanup efforts with a struggle.
“It’s tough, it’s tough,” said an elderly man, who was pushing a wheelbarrow in the heavy rain, carrying mud out of an old wooden ramen restaurant.
The city of Asakura was hit by more than 600mm of rain since it started pouring on Wednesday, and Hita was pounded by nearly 450mm of rain during the same period, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, warning of yielding ground.
The agency said the rainy front was forecast to bring 120mm of rain in the northern Kyushu region by noon today, and 100mm of rain in the neighboring Chugoku region in western Japan.
Additional reporting by AFP
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