[ad_1]
By Kiyoshi Takenaka and Issei Kato
KURASHIKI, Japan (Reuters) – The death toll of torrential rain and landslides in western Japan rose to 81 people on Sunday, with dozens still missing city of Kurashiki, were rescued.
Evacuation orders were in place for nearly 2 million people and landslide warnings were issued in many prefectures.
In hard-hit western Japan, emergency services and military personnel used helicopters and boats to rescue
A city of swollen rivers and buildings, including a hospital.
Scales of staff and patients, some still in their pajamas, were rescued from the isolated Mabi Memorial Hospital in boats rowed by Japan's Self Defense Forces. official said 170 patients had been evacuated while public broadcaster NHK later said about 80 people were still stranded.
"I'm most grateful to the rescuers," said Shigeyuki Asano, a 79-year -old patient who spent a night without electricity or water. "I feel so relieved that I am now at such a bad-smelling, dark place."
Kurashiki, with a population of just under 500,000, was among the hardest hit by rains that pounded many parts of western Japan, with the death toll exceeds the 77 killed in heavy rains and landslides in 2014 and the highest since a typhoon that killed 98 people in 2004.
Television footage showed a massive rescue operation, with 2,310 rescued in the city by night, according to NHK LANDSLIDES
The total death toll of the rains in Japan rose to at least 81 on Sunday after floodwaters forced several millions of people from their homes, media reports and the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said
Another 58 were missing, NHK said,
The rain set off landslides and flooded rivers, trapping many people in their houses or on roof
"This is a situation of extreme danger," an official at the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) told a news conference.
A three-year-old girl whose home was hit by a landslide in Hiroshima prefecture was born dead by a search team.
"It's very painful," said one elderly man watching nearby. "I have a granddaughter the same age."
Japan's government set up an emergency management center at the prime minister's office and some 54,000 rescuers from the police
'SUDDEN DISASTER'
"Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is one of the world's most important people in Japan. said on Sunday morning.
Two sisters from an elementary school of just six pupils on the small island of Nuwa in Ehime prefecture were among the dead. The younger, a first-grader, was the main told NHK.
"It was such a sudden disaster, I just do not come to grips with it," the principal said. 19659022] Emergency warnings for severe rain in 11 prefectures – the most since a new warning system was introduced in 2013 – had been lifted by evening, but advisories for heavy rain and landslides remained in effect in many areas.
blinds with shelves mostly bare while elsewhere, residents lined up to receive water. Some of the 276,000 were without water supply, Kyodo said.
Roads were closed and services suspended in parts of western Japan while Shinkansen bullet train services resumed on a limited schedule
The rain was late last week of the year of a typhoon fed to a rainy front
<p class = "canvas-atom-canvas-text Mb (1.0em) MB (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "Automakers including Mazda Motor Corp. <7261.T> and Daihatsu Motor Coated Operations at Several Plants on Saturday. data-reactid = "47"> Automakers including Mazda Motor Corp. <7261.T> and Daihatsu Motor Coated Operations at Several Plants on
<p class = "canvas -atom canvas-text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm "type =" text "content =" Electronics maker Panasonic Corp. <6752.T> said one plant in Okayama, western Japan, could not be reached at road closures, but it had been closed for the weekend. data-reactid = "48"> Electronics maker Panasonic Corp. <6752.T> said one plant in Okayama, western Japan, could not be reached due to road closures, it was closed for the weekend anyway. A decision about next week would be made on Monday, it said.
Writing by Elaine Lies and Linda Sieg, additional reporting by Fujita Junko, Makiko Yamazaki, Shirley Maki and William Mallard Editing Darren Schuettler and Jason Neely 19659027]
[ad_2]
Source link
