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One dead, two missing in landslides weeks after typhoon hits Japan
TOKYO, Oct 25, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – One person was killed and two others were
missing in landslides on Friday, a local official said, as Japan was hit by
heavy rains just two weeks after a deadly typhoon barrelled through the
country.
A woman in her 40s was sent to hospital and another woman in her 60s was
unaccounted for after landslides triggered by downpour struck two houses in
Chiba, southeast of Tokyo, said a local disaster management official.
“She was later confirmed dead in hospital,” the official told AFP.
A separate landslide destroyed a house also in Chiba and a man in his 60s
was missing, he said, adding that rescuers continued their search for the two
missing people.
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued warnings of heavy rains, landslides
and floods in a swathe of areas including eastern and central Japan.
“As risks of disasters have already increased, please be extremely vigilant
about landslides, rise in river water volumes and floods as rains will
continue,” the JMA warned on its Twitter account.
Non-mandatory evacuation orders were issued to more than 340,000 residents
in the Fukushima region and 5,000 people in Chiba, public broadcaster NHK
reported.
Footage showed cars splashing through roads partly inundated with water,
and swollen rivers seemingly on the verge of flooding.
Some 4,700 houses in the region were without power by Friday evening, while
some train services were suspended, officials said.
Japan was hit by typhoon Hagibis about two weeks ago, with the death toll
from the violent storm now standing at more than 80.
Residents still picking up the pieces after that storm expressed
frustrations over reconstruction delays and their fear of another disaster.
“I’m a bit worried that if an evacuation order is issued, we will have to
leave here,” a woman in Nagano in central Japan who was cleaning up mud told
NHK.
Many of the river banks and levees that were breached during Typhoon
Hagibis have not yet been repaired.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1755 hrs