(Reuters) — At least two people were missing, scores were stranded in flooded homes and some 100,000 evacuated across a wide swathe of Japan on Thursday (September 10) after torrential rains sent rivers surging over their banks and through breakwaters.
Record-breaking rain prompted authorities to issue “rare weather warnings” for 5 million people in a wide swathe of eastern Japan, where some areas received more than twice their usual monthly September rain in just 48 hours by Thursday after Tropical Storm Etau cut across the main island of Honshu on Wednesday
A 63-year old woman was missing after a landslide hit her home early on Thursday, while a man in his 70s in Joso, a rural town some 56 km (35 miles) north of Tokyo, was believed trapped in his house as it was swept away, NHK national television said. A further 800,000 people across eastern Japan had been advised to evacuate.
Television footage showed people in the town of Joso waving towels as they awaited help on the second floor of flooded homes as the Kinugawa river tore through a residential area.
Helicopters plucked people one by one from buildings, and an elderly couple sat on a roof clutching a pair of dogs.
Joshi City residents waded through flooded streets with their belongings in plastic bags as they made their way toward the nearest evacuation center.
Residents sought refuge in a school gymnasium as they waited for the flood to subside.
Local media reported that 26 evacuation stations have been set up within the area, and over 2500 residents have already evacuated.
“Even though in the past there was heavy rain, I’ve never seen so much water before,” another elderly woman who was evacuated told TV Tokyo.
Japan has put heavy emphasis on disaster prevention since the March 11, 2011 disaster left nearly 20,000 dead, eager to avoid the criticism leveled at previous governments for what was seen as a sluggish response, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warned of unprecedented rains.
As of 2:40 pm (0540GMT) on Thursday, the Self-Defence Forces had dispatched 55 personnel, 20 vehicles, 10 boats and eight aircrafts, with seven of them being helicopters and the remainder search and rescue airplanes.
Rainfall reached 600 mm (24 inches) in one part of Ibaraki prefecture, where Joso is located, and the Japan Meterological Agency warned of at least 200 mm more in parts of eastern Japan, including Fukushima, site of the reactor crippled by the March 2011 tsunami, before the rain is predicted to stop on Friday(September 11).
