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Torrential rains in the south and west of Japan have killed at least 44 people and 21 disappeared, according to authorities who ordered the evacuation of more than 2 million people, NHK public channel it evokes a record of 51 dead and 44 missing.
The record rainfall recorded for several days in several regions, including those of Ehime, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Kochi, Gifu or Okayama, led to exceptional floods, landslides of land and floods, trapping many inhabitants despite eviction orders not always respected because it is sometimes already impossible to move.
The prefectures of Ehime and Hiroshima would total the heaviest record with at least 33 deaths according to the figures of the Fire and Natural Disaster Management Agency.
Some 48,000 firefighters, police and military members of the Self-Defense Forces deployed in the field, but There are major difficulties in view of the inaccessibility of certain places in the middle of the countryside.
Rescue services were trying to rescue refugee inhabitants on the roofs of their houses, largely under water. Television pictures showed them waving white rags to be spotted. Helicopters, boats and other vehicles mobilized
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called the situation "extremely serious" and ordered the deployment of all possible means to save lives. The prime minister summoned the ministers concerned on Saturday morning.
– "Swept away by the waters" –
The meteorological agency has placed several regions on high alert and warned of high risks of major damage. "Maximum vigilance is required," say the meteorologists.
Dozens of houses have been completely or partially destroyed and thousands invaded by water.
It was still difficult to count the landslides, roads and bridges ransacked or even taken away. Thick, muddy waves swept through whole neighborhoods totally drowned, according to television images.
"I was in my car and suddenly the water came in front and behind engulfing the road. to escape, but I was afraid, "testified to the Mainichi newspaper Yuzo Hori, who was in the region of Hiroshima (southwest).
" My house was washed away and completely destroyed ", Toshihide Takigawa also reported in Hiroshima.
Precipitation exceeded one meter in a hundred hours in several regions, with the meteorological agency estimating that such levels are only rarely achieved in several decades. She described the rains as "terrible" and estimated that 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.
Every year, deadly landslides are recorded in the archipelago. Some 72 people were reported dead in Hiroshima in 2014 and some 15 people died in the north in 2016 after a typhoon struck.
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