KARATSU July, 11 (EW): Six people were feared dead in torrential rains that hit southwest regions of Japan this week, said the government Tuesday as search and rescue operations continue on the ground.
A heavy downpour led to record-breaking amounts of rain water accumulated in some parts of the Kyushu area through Monday, causing rivers to overflow and sodden earth to collapse in landslides.
Government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters on Tuesday that at least three people are confirmed to have died in the rains adding officials were investigating whether another three deaths were also linked to the calamity. He further said that three people remain missing and two have been reported lightly injured.
“We express our condolences to those who died, and our heartfelt sympathy towards those who were affected by the disaster,” Matsuno said.
Although flooding and other disasters have effectively cut off some distant communities but the residents are confirmed safe.
Transport remained disrupted as of early Tuesday, with some train services halted and highways blocked, while around 1,400 homes were without electricity.
In Saga region’s Karatsu, members of Japan’s military were digging through the soil and debris caused by a deadly landslide that hit homes.
The downpours, which forecasters had warned risked being the region’s “heaviest rain experienced”, prompted evacuation notices for hundreds of thousands of people.
Japan is going through its annual rainy season, which often brings heavy downpours, and sometimes results in flooding and landslides as well as casualties.
Scientists say climate change is intensifying the risk of heavy rain in Japan and elsewhere, because a warmer atmosphere holds more water.
The weather agency said it had already been raining for more than a week in the region before the heavy downpours that arrived Sunday night.
And while the sun was shining in many areas on Tuesday, officials have warned of more rain in the forecast, which could loosen already sodden ground.
Landslides are a particular risk in Japan during heavy rains because homes are often built on plains at the bottom of hillsides in the mountainous country.
In 2021, rain triggered a devastating landslide in the central resort town of Atami that killed 27 people.
And in 2018, floods and landslides killed more than 200 people in western Japan during the rainy season. —
