The torrential rains ravaging Japan have left at least one dead, two missing and about three dozen injured, Japanese authorities said Saturday.
The government called for extra vigilance “in view of the risk of landslides, flooding and overflowing rivers” in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Mawar, formerly classified as a typhoon.
In the center of the country, a rescue team found “a 60-year-old man buried in a car”. The death was later confirmed, an Aichi prefectural official told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
In the west, in Wakayama prefecture, where several streams have burst their banks, a search is underway for a missing man and woman, authorities reported to AFP.
A total of six people are seriously injured and another 24 people are slightly injured, according to Japan’s Fire and Natural Disasters Agency.
The evacuation advice for the worst affected areas – with the maximum alarm level – was issued on Friday. However, authorities lowered the level after the rains eased.
Due to the risk of flooding, new instructions were communicated this morning to residents living in the Tokyo area.
About 4,000 homes in areas close to the capital were without electricity for a few hours. According to Japan Railways (JR), the high-speed train service between Tokyo and Nagoya was temporarily suspended before resuming at 12:00 p.m.
In 2021, heavy rains triggered a landslide in the central tourist town of Atami, killing 27 people. Three years earlier, 200 people died in floods and landslides in western Japan.
Storm Mawar was still classified as a typhoon when it struck the US island of Guam in late May, uprooting trees, sweeping away homes and temporarily depriving tens of thousands of residents of electricity.
Source: DN
