Rescuers comb muddy riverbanks after Japan floods kill 7

WAJIMA, Japan - Rescuers combed the debris-strewn banks of a river in central Japan on Sept 23, searching for victims after homes were swept away in flooding and landslides that claimed at least seven lives.

The river on the Noto Peninsula – an area still reeling from a devastating earthquake in January – overflowed at the weekend, becoming a muddy torrent that inundated roads and a remote hamlet.

After the skies finally cleared, police and firefighters from across Japan were joined by residents and the father of a 14-year-old girl who is one of seven people still missing or whose status remains unknown.

The number of deaths reached seven, with one severely injured and 11 mildly injured as at Sept 23 afternoon, Ishikawa prefecture said on its website.

Rain pounded the region from Sept 21, with more than 540mm recorded in the city of Wajima over 72 hours, the heaviest continuous rain since comparative data became available.

The flooding disaster hit the area as it was making a fragile recovery from a 7.6-magnitude quake on New Year’s Day, which toppled buildings, triggered tsunami waves and sparked a major fire.

Flood waters inundated emergency housing built for those who had lost their homes in the Jan 1 quake, which killed at least 374 people, according to the Ishikawa regional government.

“I have to start over, through another cold winter,” 76-year-old former sushi chef Shoichi Miyakoshi, whose wife was killed in a 2007 earthquake, told AFP.

On Sept 23, 3,600 households still had no power after the rain, according to the Hokuriku Electric Power Company.

More than 100 areas in the region were isolated, with roads blocked due to landslides.

‘I want to hug her’

In Wajima, one of the cities worst affected by the recent earthquake, dirty puddles and piles of branches covered the streets. Widespread evacuation orders were in place at the weekend, but several residents returned to clear the mud.

Mr Takaya Kiso, the father of the missing 14-year-old, told TV Asahi and other local media that he hopes she will be found soon, as “I want to hug her”.

His daughter “was asleep so she wasn’t aware of the situation. She woke up because of my phone call. When she looked outside, it was like a sea, with flood water covering roads”, he said.

But when Mr Kiso rushed back from work, the house was gone, the reports said.

Ms Akemi Yamashita, a 54-year-old Wajima resident, told AFP she was driving on Sept 21 when “within only 30 minutes or so, water gushed into the street and quickly rose to half the height of my car”.

“I was talking to other residents of Wajima yesterday, and they said, ‘It’s so heartbreaking to live in this city’. I got teary when I heard that,” she said, describing the earthquake and floods as “like something from a movie”.

“I can’t help thinking the Noto region might be cursed or something,” she added.

Scientists say human-driven climate change is intensifying the risk posed by heavy rain as a warmer atmosphere holds more water.

The areas under the emergency warning saw “heavy rain of unprecedented levels”, a weather agency forecaster had warned on Sept 21, advising people to “secure your safety immediately”. AFP