(Reuters) — Floods that swept houses off their foundations and crushed others under landslides spread across Japan on Friday (September 11) as more rivers burst their banks, killing at least three people, leaving at least 23 missing and forcing more than 100,000 to flee.
A further 800,000 people were at one point advised to evacuate after officials issued warnings of “once in a half century rains” to five million people in areas east and north of Tokyo.
Chiyoko Kurita, a 73-year-old resident who was rescued and brought to an evacuation centre, told TV Tokyo that her father was swept away by the flood.
“My father and I were in separate locations, so only he got swept away,” she said.
Another resident described what she witnessed as floodwaters surged through the city.
“It was horrible. The contents of my refrigerator and things like electronics and bicycles were all swimming through the floodwaters. My neighbour’s car got washed away,” the woman at the evacuation centre said.
Some 51 helicopters and nearly 6,000 rescuers worked into the night on Thursday (September 10) to pluck stranded people from houses as floodwaters swirled below.
Emergency food items such as rice, curry, and sugar, were delivered to evacuation centres on Friday. Some middle school students from near the region took part in the distribution.
“We decided to help out victims of the flood since they are going through a tough time,” a middle school student volunteer told TV Tokyo.
Some parts of Japan had received more than twice the usual September amount of rain in 48 hours by noon on Thursday, sparking some of the worst flooding in more than 60 years.
Japan has put heavy emphasis on disaster prevention since the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami that left nearly 20,000 dead, eager to avoid the criticism leveled at previous governments for what was seen as a sluggish response.
