Japan suffers from floods and landslides from torrential rains

TV footage showed rescuers assisting residents in lifeboats on the flooded streets of Kurume town in Fukuoka, as a muddy current hit nearby Saga Prefecture.

A 59-year-old woman has lost her life and two members of her family are missing after a landslide destroyed two homes in Unzen, Nagasaki prefecture, a local official said.

“More than 150 soldiers, police and firefighters have been sent to participate in relief operations”the official, Takumi Kumasaki, told AFP. And added that “They are looking for missing people and watching for landslides, as heavy rains continue to fall.”, which is expected to continue for several days across much of Japan.

Beginning of July, heavy rains caused huge landslide in Atami resort, about 100 km west of Tokyo, causing around 30 deaths and disappearances.

According to scientists, global climate change is creating a warmer atmosphere that holds more water, increasing the risk of heavy rainfall. “There have been unprecedented levels of rainfall,” Yushi Adachi, a JMA official, told a press conference in Tokyo.

“Maximum alert is necessary even in areas where the risk of landslides and floods is usually not that high.”added.

In July 2020, record flooding in southwestern Japan left more than 80 dead and missing. Two years earlier, more than 200 people died in major flooding in the west of the country