| 400,000 ordered to evacuate as heavy rain pounds Japan |
TOKYO About 400,000 people were ordered or advised to leave their homes in southwest Japan on Saturday as heavy rain pounded the area for a third day leaving 29 dead or missing, officials and media said.
The Japan Meteorological Agency warned of more landslides and floods on the main southern island of Kyushu as rainfall of up to 11cm per hour was recorded on Saturday.
An unprecedented 20 inches of rain descended on the town of Aso in southwestern Japan, inundating homes and rice paddies.
Evacuation orders were issued to about 260,000 people in the north of the island where more rivers burst their banks, Kyushu’s local media reported.
They were told to go to designated shelters such as schools and other public facilities.
Nearly 140,000 other people were advised to leave their homes to avoid possible disaster, according to officials in the four affected prefectures in Kyushu.
Television footage showed torrents of muddy, debris-strewn water and flooded houses following what officials described as “unprecedented” downpours from a seasonal rain front.
Along the Yamakuni river in Oita prefecture, water levels were seen reaching the roof of a riverside drive-in restaurant before subsiding later.
In Fukuoka prefecture alone, 78,600 people were ordered to evacuate their homes as rivers overflowed in dozens of places and 181 landslides occurred, an official said. About 820 houses were damaged and three bridges washed away, Fukuoka prefecture spok-esman Hiroaki Aoki said.
“Two men were rescued from landslides but their conditions were not immediately available. One woman was still trapped,” he said. “I don’t remember any flooding which stretched over such a wide area in our prefecture.”
Images on local news reports showed cars being dragged into the raging rivers and houses destroyed by landslides. But by around noon time the rain had stopped, allowing for the clean up efforts to kick in.
The local fire department in Aso District said they had managed to rescue 8 people trapped in mudslides.
More than 75cm of rain fell in 72 hours in the city of Aso, situated at the foot of a volcano in Kumamoto prefecture, the meteorological agency said.
The death toll remained at 20 overnight, with 19 of the fatalities from landslides and house collapses in and near Aso.
Nine people were missing, with two listed on Saturday after a 30-year-old man fell into a swelling river in his car in Oita and a 83-year-old woman was buried in a landslide in Fukuoka.
Agencies
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