Heavy rain across parts of Japan has killed one person, left two missing and injured dozens more, authorities said yesterday, with thousands of residents issued evacuation warnings.
The inundation has been caused by the remnants of former Typhoon Mawar, which was downgraded to a tropical storm.
A rescue team in central Aichi Prefecture’s Toyohashi city, where the country’s highest-level evacuation alert was issued on Friday, “found a man approximately in his 60s in a submerged car, but he was later confirmed dead,” a city official said.
Photo: AFP
In western Wakayama Prefecture, where several rivers burst their banks, officials said that they had resumed the search for one man and one woman missing in the region.
A total of six people were seriously injured and 24 suffered minor injuries as of yesterday morning, the Japanese Fire and Disaster Management Agency said.
In central and western Japan, many evacuation orders — which are non-compulsory, even at the highest level — were being downgraded as rains eased.
Photo: Reuters
However, new warnings were issued in areas close to Tokyo in early yesterday morning due to flooding risks.
With several cities including Toyohashi and Koshigaya near Tokyo reportedly seeing the highest 24-hour rainfall on record, the Japan Meteorological Agency urged residents to “be on high alert for landslides, overflowing rivers and flooding of low-lying areas.”
About 4,000 households in regions close to Tokyo experienced power outages early yesterday, Tokyo Electric Power Co said, adding that the issue was mostly resolved several hours later.
Shinkansen bullet trains were temporarily suspended between Tokyo and Nagoya, but Japan Railways Group said they resumed operations at about noon.
Scientists have said climate change is intensifying the risk of heavy rain in Japan and elsewhere, as a warmer atmosphere holds more water.
Strong rain in 2021 triggered a devastating landslide in the central resort town of Atami, killing 27 people.
In 2018, floods and landslides killed more than 200 people in western Japan during the country’s annual rainy season.
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