"Race against time" to rescue flood victims in Japan

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warned Sunday against a "race against time" to rescue flood victims as authorities issued new alerts on record rains that killed at least 48 people. "Rescues, saving lives and evacuations are a race against time," said Abe, meeting with a government crisis unit set up to meet the demand.

"There are still many people whose safety has yet to be confirmed," he added.

Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the death toll is now 48. Local media say more than 50 people are dead and dozens more are missing.

The rain completely covered some villages, forcing desperate residents to shelter on their roofs with swirling flood water

More than two million people were given the order of Evacuate, but orders are not mandatory and many have remained at home, letting themselves be trapped by the rapid rise of water or sudden landslides.

Level alert for two new regions on Sunday, raising alerts for other areas where rains were decreasing.

– Roads turned into rivers –

In the town of Mihara, south of the Hiroshima region, a temporary leash

The roads were turned into muddy rivers, with the piled up soil of each side and stranded cars barely supporting the current flowing around their wheels. an ocean, "said Nobue Kakumoto, 82, a long-time resident

" I'm worried because I do not know how long it will stay like this. "

The work crews could be seen elsewhere trying to erase several small landslides that smear" We conduct relief operations 24 hours a day, "Fujitani told AFP Yoshihide, a disaster management officer in Hiroshima prefecture

"We are also dealing with the evacuees and" We are doing our best. "

In the west of the prefecture of & osh [3939Okayamanearly200peopleincludingchildrenandtheelderlyweretrappedinahospitalaftertheburstingofariverandfloodedthesurroundingarea

"Electricity and water have been cut off. We are suffering from shortage of water and food," said a nurse to the public broadcaster NHK

– Houses Worn – [19659016Morethan50000rescuerspoliceandmilitarypersonnelhavebeenmobilizedtorespondtothedisasterthathasleftentirevillagessubmergedbyfloodingwithjustthetopofthetrafficlightsvisibleovertherisingwaters

"My house was simply washed away and completely destroyed," said Toshihide Takigawa, a 35-year-old employee at a gas station in Hiroshima. The daily Nikkei Saturday

"I was in a car and massive streams of water sprang toward me from the front and back and then engulfed the road." I was just able to escape, but I was terrified, "62-year-old Yuzo Hori told Mainichi Shimbun newspaper in Hiroshima.

Although the typhoon started the week Last, the worst fell on Thursday.The worker was washed away by the floods in western Japan

The number of casualties has been steadily increasing and conditions have made rescue operations difficult, some desperate citizens surrendering on Twitter to call for help.In the middle of the second floor, wrote a woman in Kurashiki, Okayama, posting a photo of her half-submerged room by the flood.

"Children could not get on the roof, "she said," save us quickly, help us. "[19659022] In some locations, rescuers used boats or helicopters to transport affected people safely

Several major manufacturers, including automakers Daihatsu and Mitsubishi, reported that they had suspended operations in the affected areas. 19659030] The disaster is the deadliest of the rain-related crises in Japan since 2014, when at least 74 people were killed by landslides caused by torrential downpours in the Hiroshima region.