34 feared dead as Japan hit by floods, landslides
At least 34 people were confirmed or presumed dead on Sunday after record rainfall triggered floods and landslides in southwestern Japan, knocking out power of thousands of homes and cutting off roads to dozens of cities and villages.
According to Japan’s Kumamoto prefectural government, 20 people had been confirmed dead, another 14 had “no vital signs” — a term used in Japan before death can be officially certified, and some 14 are still missing.
The 14 people who had “no vital signs” were found at a nursing home in Kuma village, Kumamoto, where water and mud gushed into the building. The other 50 people in the nursing home were rescued on Sunday, the local government said.
Southwestern Japan was pounded by torrential rain over Friday and Saturday, with warnings issued by the Japan Meteorological Agency, or JMA, for Kumamoto and Kagoshima prefectures raised to the highest level for the first time in history on Saturday, leaving hundreds of thousands of homes and vehicles submerged and several bridges washed away.
In Amakusa, an island in Kumamoto, the precipitation reached 98 mm per hour, the JMA said.
The JMA issued an evacuation order for a total of 203,200 residents in Kumamoto and Kagoshima,
and some 100 shelters were set up to receive evacuees.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said around 10,000 Self-Defense Force personnel had been mobilized for disaster relief work.
To prevent the spread of COVID19, officials checked the temperatures of people and ensured social distancing in the shelters.
“We will do our utmost to prevent the spread of the infection and make lives of those who had to flee their homes as comfortable as possible,” Disaster Management Minister Ryota Takeda said after visiting a gymnasium in Hitoyoshi city, where 600 residents are taking shelter.
Along the Kuma River
Right now, the flooding is centered along the Kuma River, which overflowed in at least 10 places.
Meanwhile, around 30 places in the region, including the cities of Yatsushiro and Hitoyoshi, were cut off after floods and mudslides destroyed roads and swept away buildings.
Over 33,000 phone lines were not working, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone West Corp reported and some 5,880 homes in Kumamoto and Kagoshima were without power, according to Kyushu Electric Power Co.
“It wasn’t like normal rain,” one woman told public broadcaster NHK. “I honestly never imagined it could be so powerful.”