Hiroshima under highest risk alert amid unprecedented rain
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TOKYO • Japan has issued the most serious level 5 risk alerts in the western prefecture of Hiroshima, citing unprecedented rainfall in the region and imminent risk of floods and other disasters.
"There is a possibility that a grave disaster will occur" in the coming days, a Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) official told an emergency news conference shown live yesterday on public broadcaster NHK.
The downpours are forecast to continue for several days over a large swathe of the country, from the northern Tohoku region to Kyushu in the south.
On Thursday, hundreds of thousands of residents of Nagasaki and other parts of Kyushu island in south-west Japan were asked to evacuate to avoid floods and the risk of landslides caused by torrential rain.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's office set up a disaster control centre yesterday to handle potential disasters.
"Torrential rain could continue in regions around western Japan," Mr Suga said.
The heaviest downpour was in Hiroshima prefecture, where non-compulsory evacuation orders were issued to at least 69,500 people and the top flood alert announced.
In the city of Hiroshima, "we have issued a special heavy rain warning. This is a level of heavy rain that we have never experienced before", the JMA said in a statement.
The agency official also called the rain in some areas "unprecedented". The land ministry warned that water levels are extremely high in three rivers - two running through the Hiroshima region, and one in southern Kumamoto.
Scientists say climate change is intensifying the risk of heavy rain in Japan and elsewhere, because a warmer atmosphere holds more water.
Downpours last month caused a devastating landslide in the central resort town of Atami that killed at least 21 people.
In 2018, more than 200 people died when floods inundated western Japan during the country's annual rainy season.
REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
