More rain impedes progress
TYPHOON HAGIBIS: RESCUE EFFORTS CONTINUE AS STORM CUTS SWATHE OF DESTRUCTION
Commuter services resume but many homes still without power or water.
Tens of thousands of rescue workers in Japan yesterday battled to find survivors following a powerful typhoon that killed at least 43 people, as fresh rain threatened to hamper efforts.
Typhoon Hagibis crashed into the country on Saturday night, unleashing high winds and torrential rain across 36 of the country’s 47 prefectures and triggering landslides and catastrophic flooding.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told an emergency disaster meeting yesterday: “Even now, many people are still unaccounted for.
“Units are trying their best to search for and rescue them, working day and night.”
Even as rescuers, including troops, combed through debris, the country’s weather agency forecast rain in central and eastern Japan that it warned could cause further flooding and new landslides.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference: “I would like to ask people to stay vigilant and continue watching for landslides and river flooding.”
In Nagano, one of the worst-hit regions, rain was already falling and expected to intensify.
“We are concerned about the impact of the latest rain on rescue and recovery efforts,” local official Hiroki Yamaguchi said. “We will continue operations while watching out for secondary disasters.”
By yesterday afternoon, national broadcaster NHK said the toll had risen to 43 dead, with 16 missing and more than 200 injured. The government gave lower figures but was continuing to update its information.
While Hagibis, one of the most powerful storms to hit the Tokyo area in decades, packed wind gusts of up to 216km/h, heavy rain caused the most damage.
A total of 142 rivers flooded, mainly in eastern and northern Japan, with river banks collapsing in two dozen places, local media said.
In central Nagano, a levee breach sent water from the Chikuma River gushing into residential neighbourhoods, flooding homes up to the second floor.
As water slowly receded yesterday, television footage showed patients being transferred by ambulance from a Nagano hospital where about 200 people were cut off by flooding.
Elsewhere, rescuers used helicopters to winch survivors from roofs and balconies, or steered boats through muddy waters to reach those trapped.
About 75 900 households remained without power, with 120 000 experiencing water outages.
The disaster left tens of thousands of people in shelters, with many unsure when they would be able to return home.
“Everything from my house was washed away before my eyes, I wasn’t sure if it was a dream or real,” a woman in Nagano told NHK. “I feel lucky I’m still alive.”
The storm brought travel chaos over a holiday weekend, grounding flights and halting commuter and bullet train services.
By yesterday, most subway trains had resumed service, along with many bullet train lines, and flights had also restarted.
The storm also forced the delay of Japanese Grand Prix qualifiers and the cancellation of three Rugby World Cup matches. But the match between Japan and Scotland went ahead, with the hosts winning 28-21. – AFP