One killed as heavy rain triggers landslides in Japan, while capital Tokyo gets heatstroke alert
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A bridge over the Mifune River which collapsed due to heavy rain in Yamato town in Japan's Kumamoto prefecture on July 3.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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TOKYO – Torrential rain over south-west Japan triggered landslides that killed at least one person, while three were missing, as the authorities urged tens of thousands to leave their homes because of the danger of more landslides and floods.
There has been unusually heavy rain in various parts of the world recently, and Japan is the latest country to be hit, raising new fears of the pace of climate change.
“The rain is becoming so heavy, unlike anything seen before,” Mr Satoshi Sugimoto, director of the forecast division at the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), told a news conference.
A woman in her 70s was killed when a landslide hit her house in Fukuoka prefecture, while three people were missing after a landslide hit two homes in Saga prefecture, NHK reported.
The highest-level warning for heavy rain was issued in parts of Fukuoka and Oita prefectures.
The Land Ministry said at least eight rivers have flooded their banks and dozens of mudslides have occurred, in a region hit by rain that killed dozens of people in July 2017.
The authorities urged tens of thousands of residents to move out of areas in danger of more landslides and flooding, the media reported.
Some parts of Fukuoka have received over 500mm of rain since Friday, more than what usually falls in the whole of July, the media reported, and another 200mm is expected up to early Tuesday, Mr Sugimoto said.
Toyota Motor said it would suspend night-shift operations on Monday at three factories in Fukuoka due to the rain.
However, the weather has not affected production lines of Sony Group, Renesas Technology and Nissan Motor, the companies told Reuters.
Government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno said at a regular news conference that 6,740 households were without power, while 80 homes had no water, as at early Monday.
The Shinkansen bullet train service was suspended between Hiroshima and Fukuoka’s Hakata stations, but resumed services by mid-morning.
Meanwhile, heatstroke alerts were issued for Japan’s capital Tokyo as well as Saitama, Chiba and Ibaraki prefectures on Monday for the first time this season, as sweltering weather prevails in the Kanto and Koshin regions.
The mercury soared as scorching heat gripped the regions on Monday, according to the JMA, with temperatures reaching 35 deg C in central Tokyo, also this summer’s first.
The high temperatures as at 11.30am local time were 36.4 deg C in Otsuki city, Yamanashi prefecture; 35.7 deg C in Ome city, western Tokyo; 35.6 deg C in Kasama city, Ibaraki prefecture; and 35.2 deg C in central Tokyo.
Weather officials added that humidity is also high, warning people of heatstroke risks.
The high temperatures and moist air flowing in could cause localised downpours, said the JMA, forecasting hourly precipitation of up to 60mm in the northern Kanto region and 30mm in southern Kanto. REUTERS, XINHUA
