At least 20 dead in torrential rains in Japan

The torrential rains that have been falling for several days on the south and 'West of Japan have killed at least 20 people, according to the authorities, while the media announced much heavier balance sheets.

Record rainfall recorded in several regions (Hiroshima, Kyoto, Okayama, etc.) resulted in exceptional floods, landslides and floods, trapping many inhabitants despite evacuation orders given by local authorities to at least 1.9 million people according to the authorities and even twice according to the NHK public channel.

The latter, whose regular programs are partly replaced by special editions, spoke of 47 dead and 47 missing in the early evening in Japan (early afternoon).

Other chains gave fairly close figures.

Hiroshima prefecture would have the heaviest record with 23 deaths according to NHK, but the provinces of Aichi, Gifu, Kyoto and Okayama also appear hard hit

"We expect the number of victims to increase because we have collected only part of the information," told AFP an official of the division of disaster management of the prefecture Ehime, also concerned.

Some 48,000 men from the fire department, the police and the Self-Defense Forces (named after the Japanese army) were dispatched to the field, but they face major difficulties given the inaccessibility of some places in full

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe described the situation as "extremely serious" and ordered the deployment of all possible means to save lives.

The weather agency has placed on maximum alert several regions warning of major risks of major damage.

Rescue services were trying to save refugee residents on the roofs of their homes largely under water. Helicopters, boats and other vehicles were mobilized.

"Maximum vigilance is needed", meteorologists repeated while the government set up a crisis cell.

Houses collapsed in places due to landslides of land, roads and bridges were ransacked or even blown away by the violent and thick muddy floods and entire neighborhoods totally drowned, according to the images of televisions.

The precipitation exceeded one meter in 72 hours in several regions, the l weather agency that such levels are rarely achieved in several decades. She described the rains as "terrible" and thought they would last until Sunday.

Japan is often traversed by large rainy fronts in addition to the sometimes deadly typhoons that sweep it regularly in the summer.