INTL More than a dozen feared dead and 13 missing as torrential rain lashes western Japan

[Melodi]

I think this may be part of the same weather system that is a threat to the Three Gorges Dam but I'm not certain of this - this is a growing international news story as the facts come out. - melodi (best viewed at the link this is too long to post - many pictures)

12 feared dead and 13 missing as torrential rain lashes western Japan

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urged local people to be 'on maximum alert' and ordered 10,000 troops on stand-by for immediate deployment to join rescue and recovery operations in Kumamoto.

www.dailymail.co.uk

More than a dozen feared dead and 13 missing as torrential rain lashes western Japan sparking massive floods and landslides forcing authorities to evacuate 76,000 people

• The Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has urged local people to be 'on maximum alert' as the bad weather continues
• Abe ordered 10,000 troops on stand-by for immediate deployment to join rescue and recovery operations
• Footage showed vehicles swamped at car parks near a flooding river, while several bridges were washed away

By AFP

PUBLISHED: 10:53, 4 July 2020 | UPDATED: 11:11, 4 July 2020





More than a dozen people are feared dead and 13 others are missing in western Japan after record heavy rain triggered massive floods and landslides, forcing authorities to issue evacuation orders for more than 76,000 residents.
The nation's weather agency downgraded rain warnings by one notch from the highest emergency level in Kumamoto and Kagoshima on Kyushu island, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urged local people to be 'on maximum alert'.
Abe ordered 10,000 troops on stand-by for immediate deployment to join rescue and recovery operations, pledging the central government would 'do its best to take emergency measures, prioritising people's lives'.
Two people were found 'in cardio-respiratory arrest' and another was missing after landslides in Kumamoto, said Naosaka Miyahara, a disaster management official for the prefecture, using a term often used in Japan before a doctor certifies death.
Kumamoto Gov. Ikuo Kabashima later told reporters that around a dozen residents at a flooded elderly care home in Kuma village were presumed dead after being found during rescue operations, according to Japanese media including NHK and Kyodo News. Officials said they were still sorting out the numbers and could not confirm the toll.

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Areas are inundated in muddy waters that gushed out from the Kuma River in Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto prefecture, southwestern Japan

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A man waits to be rescued on a roof of a house after the area is inundated after torrential rain triggered the flooding of the Kumagawa River

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These aerial views shows the site of a mudslide caused by heavy rain in Ashikita town, Kumamoto prefecture, southwestern Japan
A massive landslide destroyed several houses with rescuers searching for missing people through half-buried windows.
'We have issued evacuation orders after record heavy rain,' said Toshiaki Mizukami, another official for Kumamoto prefecture.
'We strongly urge people to take action to protect their lives as it's still raining quite heavily,' he told AFP.
Kyodo News said 76,600 residents in Kumamoto and Kagoshima were ordered to evacuate their homes.
Some train services have been suspended in the region, while more than 8,000 households lost power.
'I smelled mud, and the whole area was vibrating with river water. I've never experienced anything like this,' a man in a shelter in Yatsushiro city, in western Kumamoto, told NHK TV. He said he fled early fearing a disaster.
Japan is currently in its rainy season, which often causes floods and landslides and prompts local authorities to issue evacuation orders.

 

[Rabbit]

If 12 are feared dead and 13 are missing wouldn't that actually mean 25 are missing?

 

[Melodi]

This is a breaking story, I expect stories will be confused for a few days while the rescuers sort things out and the cost counting starts..Melodi

14 feared dead as heavy rain lashes western Japan

Up to 14 people are feared dead at a nursing home in western Japan as record rainfall triggered massive floods and landslides.

www.rte.ie

14 feared dead in nursing home as heavy rain lashes western Japan
Updated / Saturday, 4 Jul 2020 11:46

Roads have been cut off by floods and landslides

Up to 14 people are feared dead at a nursing home in western Japan as record rainfall triggered massive floods and landslides.

The torrential rain has forced authorities to issue evacuation advisories for more than 200,000 residents.

The victims were found "in cardio-respiratory arrest" at the facility for elderly people that was flooded after a nearby river broke its banks, governor Ikuo Kabashima from the western region of Kumamoto told reporters.

Authorities in Japan often use that term before a doctor officially certifies death.

"The Self-Defence Forces have launched rescue operations," Mr Kabashima said, adding that three others at the home were suffering from hypothermia.

Some 60 to 70 people were in the home as water rushed in to the second floor this morning, public broadcaster NHK said.

Local officials separately said another person was also found in cardio-respiratory arrest in landslides in Kumamoto. They had previously said two were feared dead.

The Kuma river has been swelled by the heavy rain
Elsewhere in Kumamoto, one person was seriously injured and nine others were missing while about 100 people were stranded as roads were cut off by floods and landslides, NHK reported.

The nation's weather agency downgraded rain warnings by one notch from the highest emergency level in Kumamoto and nearby Kagoshima, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urged local people to be "on maximum alert".

Mr Abe ordered 10,000 troops on stand-by for immediate deployment to join rescue and recovery operations, pledging the central government would "do its best to take emergency measures, prioritising people's lives".

Television footage showed vehicles swamped at car parks near a flooding river, while several bridges were washed away.

"I can't evacuate as a road turned into a river. It's so scary," a female resident told NHK.

Haruka Yamada, a 32-year-old local resident, told Kyodo News: "I saw large trees and parts of houses being washed away and heard them crashing into something.

"The air is filled with the smell of leaking gas and sewage."

Aerial footage showed a resident being lifted with a rope from a roof to a military helicopter as an entire town was awash with muddy water.

A massive landslide destroyed several houses with rescuers searching for missing people through half-buried windows.

"We have issued evacuation orders after record heavy rain," said Toshiaki Mizukami, another official for Kumamoto prefecture.

"We strongly urge people to take action to protect their lives as it's still raining quite heavily," he said.

A man looks at the river Kuma overflowing in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto prefecture
Kyodo said more than 203,000 residents in Kumamoto and Kagoshima were advised to evacuate their homes.

Some train services have been suspended in the region, while more than 8,000 households lost power.

Japan is currently in its rainy season, which often causes floods and landslides and prompts local authorities to issue evacuation orders.

 

[Plain Jane]

Flood death toll hits 20 as Japan warned of more rainfall

The death toll from floods and landslides unleashed by torrential rains on Japan's southern island of Kyushu rose to 20 on Sunday, with 14 people missing, NHK public TV said.

www.reuters.com

ENVIRONMENT
JULY 5, 2020 / 12:26 AM / UPDATED 6 HOURS AGO
Japan braces for return of torrential southern rains that killed 16

TOKYO (Reuters) - Torrential rains that hit Japan’s southern island of Kyushu killed 16 people, with 13 going missing and 17 showing no vital signs, public broadcaster NHK said on Sunday, as the weather agency expects heavy rain to resume by evening.

Saturday’s unprecedented rains in the Kumamoto prefecture of central Kyushu unleashed floods and landslides.

Television broadcast images of overturned cars, people shoveling mud from their homes and the military rescuing stranded residents in boats.

“We had no electricity and no running water,” one rescued woman told the broadcaster. “It was tough.”

The Japan Meteorological Agency urged people to stay vigilant, as more rains are predicted.

“From this evening on, extremely heavy rains with thunder are expected in southern as well as northern Kyushu,” an agency official told Reuters.

“The rainfall so far has already loosened the ground. There is a high chance of landslides occurring, even without much additional rain.”

Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Clarence Fernandez
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

 

[Melodi]

The Death toll is rising...

Death toll rises as floods cause major flooding in southern Japan

The floods in Kumamoto region have caused serious damage.

www.thejournal.ie

Death toll rises as floods cause major flooding in southern Japan
The floods in Kumamoto region have caused serious damage.
27 minutes ago 1,724 Views 4 Comments
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A couple walks in front of a damaged house in Kumamoto.
Image: Koji Harada/AP/Press Association Images

OVER 30 PEOPLE are either confirmed or feared dead – including 14 at a nursing home — after torrential rain in Japan triggered massive floods and mudslides, authorities said.
Rescuers were searching for 14 people missing after floods hit the Kumamoto region on the southwestern island of Kyushu, destroying houses, sweeping away vehicles and causing bridges to collapse.
The regional government confirmed 18 people had died, while another 16 were in a state of “cardio-respiratory arrest” – a term often used in Japan before a doctor officially certifies death.
Fourteen of the victims were at a nursing home that was inundated when local rivers broke their banks. Emergency services rescued 50 people from the facility.
More than 200,000 people have been urged to evacuate as authorities request those in emergency shelters to wash their hands, wear masks and maintain social distance to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

“We will do our utmost to prevent the spread of the infection and make lives of those who had to flee their home as comfortable as possible,” Disaster Management Minister Ryota Takeda told reporters after visiting a gymnasium in Hitoyoshi city where 600 residents are sheltering.

Japan Ground Self-Defense Force members evacuate people in the south of the country.Source: Kota Endo/AP/Press Association Images
At a cabinet-level meeting in Tokyo on the disaster, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to offer financial support, while warning residents in Kumamoto to brace for more rain.
“As we speak, more than 40,000 personnel from police, fire, coast guard and Self-Defence troops are conducting search and rescue operations which will continue through the night,” Abe said.
“Saving lives is our priority.”
Communities along the Kuma River, which passes through Hitoyoshi, have been hit hard by the floodwaters.
Although the rain had eased in Kumamoto by this morning, collapsed bridges and blocked roads due to flooding and mudslides have left many isolated in the region.

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Rescue workers and troops from the Self-Defence Forces used boats and helicopters to reach them.
More rain is expected this evening.
A large “SOS” sign was created on the grounds of what used to be an elementary school in Yatsushiro city, where about 10 people waved white towels at rescue and media helicopters.
- © AFP 2020

 

[jazzy]

incredibly sad. God please help those people