Nearly 5800 in western Japan remain in shelters after special rain warnings

Some 5800 people were still at shelters as of last Friday, a week after special warnings were issued in eight prefectures in western and southwestern Japan due to torrential rain. The death toll from floods and landslides caused by the rain has reached 196 in 13 of the country’s 47 prefectures, with 55 people unaccounted for in four of them.

Running water remained shut off at 205,931 households as of noon, mainly in hardest-hit Hiroshima Prefecture, according to the welfare ministry.

The number of deaths from the disaster stood at 88 in Hiroshima, 59 in Okayama Prefecture and 26 in Ehime Prefecture, while the number of missing people came to 37 in Hiroshima and 15 in Okayama.

As of 1pm last Friday, 619 landslides and other sediment disasters had occurred in 31 prefectures, causing the closure of seven sections of seven expressways and 63 sections of 39 national routes. Japan Freight Railway Co. and nine other railroad operators were suspending train runs on 24 lines. According to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, evacuation orders and advisories had been issued for some 48,000 households, or roughly 109,000 people, in at least 14 prefectures as of 3pm last Friday

The Japanese government decided to disburse ¥2.085 billion (FJ$0.039bn) from its contingency reserves to provide emergency assistance to afflicted areas.