OSAKA (Kyodo) – At least 50 people have died and about 50 are missing due to torrential rains that continued to fall in a large area of western Japan on Saturday, causing landslides and floods. flooding. [19659002] Evacuation orders or notices were issued for 4.72 million people at one point, while 48,000 members of the Self-Defense, Police, and Fire Fighters have mobilized to search for people trapped or injured. warnings were in effect for prefectures in Kyoto and Gifu, but raised in Nagasaki, Saga, Fukuoka, Tottori, Hiroshima, Okayama and Hyogo prefectures.
The Japanese Meteorological Agency had issued emergency warnings on floods and landslides. when he anticipates the kind of extreme conditions that occur just once or twice in 50 years. Special warnings indicate that residents of affected areas must remain alert but are not required evacuation orders.
As a result, many people in Japan tend to stay at home, even in mountainous areas prone to landslides. Since Thursday's downpour, the weather agency has forecast record rainfall until Sunday, warning of floods, mudslides and lightning strikes.
Hiroshima Prefecture was hit hardest by landslides that killed 22 people. He dies in Ehime prefecture and others in the prefectures of Osaka, Shiga, Hyogo, Okayama, Yamaguchi and Fukuoka.
In August 2014, 77 people died in Hiroshima when torrential rain triggered massive landslides. But a 71-year-old man said Saturday: "It was raining more than four years ago, I was afraid to think about what I would become."
In Seiyo, Ehime Prefecture, five people were confirmed dead because of torrential rain, including people being carried away in a car. On the island of Nuwa, off Matsuyama Prefecture, a woman in her 30s and her two children were killed when a mudslide hit their home [19659007] At least 50 people died and about 50 disappeared from the torrential rains that hit a vast area of western Japan.
In Kasaoka, Okayama Prefecture, six workers were buried when a landslide crashed into their factory early Saturday morning, with one person confirmed dead.
Also in Okayama, a retirement home for the elderly was flooded temporarily stranded on the second floor, while more than 10 people were climbing on the roofs of their homes while the water rumbled in the prefecture.
In an apartment complex in Hiroshima, about 100 people were stranded in the area. On Saturday, rescuers moved them safely, carrying them in fast dark waters.
In a vast area from southwestern Japan to the west of Japan, the rivers were swollen and overflowed, the bridges washed away, the government set up a liaison unit in the center Crisis Management Office of the Prime Minister to gather information.
At a meeting with ministers, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe According to Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, manufacturing, tourism and retail companies were hit hard Saturday with heavy rains and floods in western Japan that caused disruptions in the supply chain and events. cancellations
Among the major automakers, Daihatsu Motor Co., a mini-vehicle manufacturing unit of Toyota Motor Corp., Mazda Motor Corp. and Mitsubishi. They suspended their activities in the factories of western Japan
but they either stopped their activities because of difficulties in obtaining parts or to worry about the movements of employees in dangerous conditions. The Okayama power plant manufactured by Panasonic Corp. was also flooded due to torrential rains, and the company scrambled to assess the damage.
19659002] Heavy rains also canceled hotel bookings and events related to the traditional Tanabata festival Saturday
Many hotels in front of JR Kyoto Station were waiting for full bookings, but about 30 to 40% of reservations have been canceled. Music festival was richer in the neighboring city of Uji.
Events and factory tours planned by a railway company and the breweries or whiskey distilleries were also canceled in the prefectures of Wakayama, Okayama and Osaka [19659002] Internet and mobile phone connections were disrupted mainly in the Chugoku region and many retailers decided to close their stores.
Seven-Eleven Japan Co. convenience store chain, FamilyMart Co. and Lawson Inc. closed many outlets in prefectures of Kyoto, Okayama, Hiroshima and Fukuoka, while Aeon Shopping Center operator Co. said it would close its store in Fukuoka in southwestern Japan for a while.
