"Historical" rains leave at least two dead and hundreds of thousands evacuated to Japan

By Elaine Lies

TOKYO (Reuters) – Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated on Friday most parts of the west and center of the country face torrential rains that have overflowed rivers, caused avalanches and killed at least two people. 19659005] The Meteorological Agency of Japan said that the rainfall is "historical" and warned that rain will continue to fall on already saturated areas of water until Sunday. Until Friday morning, part of the main island of Honshu had already received twice the total amount of rain that falls in a normal July.

In the emergency, at least two people died, one aspirated by a pipeline. drainage and the other, an old woman who was knocked over by a gust of wind.

There are several other missing persons, including one whose car was dragged during the delivery of milk in the early hours of the morning, reported the national channel NHK. "The situation is extremely dangerous," wrote a Twitter user in Kochi, a town in Shikoku, the smallest of Japan's main islands, where the rain was particularly intense.

Dozens of people were injured, including four critically, according to the agency's fire and disaster management. In addition, an avalanche of mud buried a group of people on Friday morning and rescuers were working to try to get them out.

Some 168,000 people have been ordered to evacuate their homes due to avalanches and floods. to 1.2 million more, said the agency. Among the affected areas is the tourist Kyoto, former capital of Japan, where the authorities closed bridges and walks before the overflowing rivers.

However, Japan's climate problems are not yet over. The typhoon Maria is forming in the Pacific Ocean, which will increase in strength in the next few days and could become a Category 4 storm heading to the southwestern Okinawa Islands early next week.

by Kaori Kaneko, edited in Spanish by Carlos Serrano)