Heavy rain brings more flooding deaths to Japan
TOKYO — Pounding rain that caused deadly floods in southern Japan moved northeast on Wednesday, battering large areas of the country’s main island, swelling more rivers, triggering mudslides and destroying houses and roads. At least 58 people have died in several days of flooding.
Parts of Nagano and Gifu, including areas known for scenic mountain trails and hot springs, were flooded by downpours.
Public broadcaster NHK showed a swollen river gouging into its embankment and destroying a highway.
Flooding and mudslides blocked parts of a main road connecting Kamikochi and Matsumoto, two major tourist destinations in Nagano, stranding hundreds of residents and visitors, though they were believed to have safely evacuated. In neighbouring Gifu, hundreds were isolated in the hot spring towns of Gero and Ontake.
In the scenic mountainous town of Takayama, several houses were hit by a mudslide, but their residents were safely rescued.
Most of the deaths have been in Kumamoto prefecture. Four others died in Fukuoka, another prefecture on Kyushu, Japan’s third-largest island.
At the peak, as many as 3.6 million people were advised to evacuate, although it wasn’t mandatory and the number who sought shelter was not known. About half of the advisories had been lifted by Wednesday afternoon. In places where rain had subsided, residents were busy cleaning up their homes and workplaces.
In Gero, a man washed off mud at the entrance of his riverside house despite the evacuation advisory. “I was told to run away and my neighbours all went, but I stayed,” he said. “I didn’t want my house to be washed away in my absence.”
In Oita, teachers at a nursery school were wiping the floor and drying wet furniture. “I hope we can return to normal life as soon as possible,” principal Yuko Kitaguchi told NHK.