TOKYO (Reuters) – Torrential rain over southwest Japan triggered landslides that killed at least one person, while three were missing, as authorities urged tens of thousands to leave their homes because of the danger of more landslides and floods.
Japan is the latest country to be hit by unusually heavy rain in various parts of the world in recent days that has raised new fears of the pace of climate change.
“The rain is becoming so heavy unlike anything seen before,” Satoshi Sugimoto, director of forecast division at the Japan Meteorological Agency, told a press conference.
A woman in her 70s was killed when a landslide hit her house in Fukuoka, while three people were missing after a landslide hit two homes in Saga prefecture, state broadcaster NHK reported.
The highest-level heavy rain warning was issued in parts of the Fukuoka and Oita prefectures, on Kyushu island.
At least eight rivers had flooded their banks and dozens of mudslides had occurred, the land ministry said, in a region hit by rain that killed dozens of people in July 2017.
Authorities urged tens of thousands of residents to move out of areas in danger of more landslides and flooding, media reported.
Some parts of Fukuoka had received more than 500 mm of rain since Friday, more than usually falls in the whole of July, media reported, and another 200 mm is expected up to early Tuesday, Sugimoto said.
However, the severe weather had not affected production lines of Sony Group, Renesas Technology, Toyota Motor and Nissan Motor, the companies told Reuters.
Government spokesperson Hirokazu Matsuno told at a regular press conference that 6,740 households were without power while 80 homes had no water, as of early Monday.
The Shinkansen bullet train service was suspended between Hiroshima and Fukuoka’s Hakata stations but resumed serviced by mid-morning.
(Reporting by Daniel Leussink, Satoshi Sugiyama and Mariko Katsumura; Editing by Stephen Coates, Robert Birsel)
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