The Japan News by The Yomiuri Shimbun
Record rainfall rocks Kyushu
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a heavy rain emergency warning for Kagoshima and Kumamoto prefectures after heavy rain battered the Kyushu region from early morning on July 4. Citing an imminent risk to people’s lives, the agency issued a Level 5 warning, the highest level of alert, at 4:50 a.m. The highest-ever rainfall over a 72-hour period was recorded at 27 locations in the Kyushu region in the six days from July 3 to 8, according to reports from the Japan Meteorological Agency.
Rain has continued intermittently since July 2, before the first emergency warning for heavy rain was issued. The agency forecasts further heavy rain.
The death toll from the heavy rain rose to 60 on July 8, while one person was in cardiopulmonary arrest and 17 were missing.
The agency checked the rainfall amounts at 163 locations in the seven prefectures of Kyushu. Record rainfall was measured at nine locations in Oita, five locations each in Fukuoka and Kumamoto, four locations in Kagoshima and two locations each in Nagasaki and Saga. Among these, 24 locations have data available for the average precipitation per month and all marked more precipitation than in a usual July.
The highest rainfall of 862 millimeters was recorded in Hita, Oita Prefecture, where the Chikugo River overflowed on July 7-8, causing extensive flooding in the center of the city.
The rainfall recorded at several places was higher than the 616 millimeters measured three years ago in Asakura, Fukuoka Prefecture, which suffered severe damage from rain that left 42 people dead or missing.
In the latest downpours, moist air flows mixed with the seasonal rain front heading south to north in Kyushu to create a series of cumulonimbus clouds, forming linear precipitation bands. These bands have appeared over several parts of the country since July 4. The clouds had stayed over the Kuma River basin, among several other areas, causing seemingly unceasing heavy rain.
Meanwhile, the Chikugo River and the Oita River overflowed in Oita Prefecture on July 8, and there was extensive flooding in the cities of Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, and Hita, Oita Prefecture.
In Yufu, Oita Prefecture, prefectural police and firefighters were searching for a four-seater vehicle that was believed to have been washed away by a river. There was also a report of a missing person in the city. In Nagasaki City, the body of a woman in her 70s or 80s was found in the Urakami River on July 8.
The Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry announced that the Oita River overflowed in Yufu at 12:40 a.m. on July 8, and the Chikugo River again broke its banks in Hita at 1 a.m. on the same day. As of 6 a.m., a total of 90 landslides had been confirmed in seven prefectures in Kyushu.
The meteorological agency recorded 862 millimeters of rainfall in Hita and 688 millimeters in Omuta, Fukuoka Prefecture, from noon on July 5 to 5 a.m. on July 8. In Taketa, Oita Prefecture, radar analysis noted 110 millimeters of rainfall in the hour up to 1:20 a.m. on July 8, and the agency issued information about a record-breaking deluge in a short period.