Torrential Rain Hits Western Japan Causing Mudslides 2 People Dead, 2 People Missing 300,000 People Were Evacuated Their Homes!

Bernama Malaysian Nat'l News

Heavy Rain Hits Western Japan, Leaving 2 Dead, 2 Others Missing

written by Staff

Wednesday July 15, 2010 at 15:58pm

TOKYO, July 15 (Bernama) -- Torrential rain hit western Japan from Tuesday night to Wednesday, leaving two women dead and two other people missing, and prompting local governments to recommend that about 300,000 people evacuate from their homes amid flood warnings, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported.

Keiko Harada, 77, was confirmed dead after being pulled from a river in Mihara, Hiroshima Prefecture.

In Kure, also in Hiroshima Prefecture, Kazue Takatani, 72, went missing after a landslide. Rescue workers found her several hours later but she had lost consciousness and was pronounced dead Wednesday night.

Local police in Hiroshima city initially said the weather led to the death of an unidentified woman who had been swept away by a river, but later said she had probably committed a suicide.

An 82-year-old man went missing in Tsuwano, Shimane Prefecture.

In Sera in the same prefecture, a 73-year-old woman is missing after three other people were rescued from a house hit by a landslide.

In Wakayama, around 100 guests and employees at an inn were briefly isolated after mudslides and fallen trees blocked traffic.

In Iida city and Tenryu town, both in Nagano Prefecture, landslides hit roads isolating about 1,900 people in 880 households, but none was injured.

Among those subject to evacuation recommendations were about 125,000 people in Fukuoka and Saga prefectures in northern Kyushu, including some places that recorded more than 100 millimeters of rain per hour. Similar recommendations were also issued in Hiroshima and Yamaguchi prefectures.

Heavy rain forced West Japan Railway Co to suspend bullet train runs between Hiroshima and Kokura in Fukuoka Prefecture for two and a half hours Wednesday morning, affecting about 23,000 passengers.

It also affected other train traffic in western and southwestern Japanese prefectures including Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Tokushima, Osaka and Kyoto.

Expressways were partially shut in Shimane, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi and Kyoto prefectures.

The Japan Meteorological Agency forecast that heavy rain could hit western and other parts of Japan on Thursday as well.