FUKUOKA, Aug 12 (Kyodo/APP): At least two people are feared dead and others remain missing in southwestern Japan on Monday as torrential rains batter the region, triggering floods and landslides, according to local authorities and rescuers.
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a special heavy rain warning for parts of Kumamoto Prefecture but downgraded it to a heavy rain warning in the afternoon, while still urging residents in the affected areas to remain alert.
A man, who was evacuating with his family, went missing after their car was swept away by a landslide in Kosa in the prefecture.
The mother and two children were rescued, while local police said they are confirming the identity of a man who was later found nearby with no vital signs.
In Yatsushiro, a woman with no vital signs was found inside a car that had fallen into an irrigation canal.
There were also reports of people being swept away and landslides washing away houses and cars in the prefecture and neighboring Fukuoka Prefecture.
A man in his 60s was rescued from a collapsed house in Misato, Kumamoto, and taken to the hospital, according to local firefighters.
At a campsite in Kamiamakusa, 15 visitors and staff members were temporarily stranded after a road leading to the area was blocked by a landslide. They were later rescued by local firefighters.
In Fukutsu, Fukuoka, two people in their 60s were swept away by a river on Sunday afternoon, and rescue operations are ongoing, according to local authorities.
Meanwhile, a woman in her 30s was confirmed dead Monday in Aira, Kagoshima Prefecture, local police said. She was found Sunday in her house, which had collapsed in a landslide Friday following heavy rains.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told reporters Monday morning his government is “committed to implementing disaster response measures,” while urging residents to remain vigilant.
JR Kyushu, which serves southwestern Japan, said it suspended all bullet train services from the start of operations in the morning but resumed them in the afternoon.
The weather agency has been warning of extreme rainfall in Kumamoto and Nagasaki prefectures as a rainband stretching across the Japanese archipelago has inundated wide areas of the country.
Tamana in Kumamoto recorded 370 millimeters of rainfall in six hours through early Monday, nearly double the city’s average precipitation for all of August, according to the weather agency.