Authorities on Saturday ordered the evacuation of more than 60,000 residents in central Japan due to flooding caused by heavy rains, which has already left one person missing.
Some 44,700 residents of the cities of Wajima, Suzu and Noto in Ishikawa Prefecture have been forced to flee the area, local authorities said.
At 11:00 a.m. (3:00 a.m. in Lisbon), flooding was confirmed in a dozen rivers in the region, said Masaru Kojima, an official at the Ministry of Lands.
Three of the rivers burst their banks and flooding affected nearby communities, the official told AFP, adding that damage to buildings and infrastructure was being assessed.
One person is missing in Wajima, where several buildings were flooded and roads were blocked by landslides, the ministry said in a statement.
At least one house was hit by a landslide, Japan’s fire and disaster management agency said, without providing further details.
The Japan Meteorological Agency has put Ishikawa Prefecture on high alert, warning of life-threatening dangers.
A meteorologist with the agency, Satoshi Sugimoto, warned of “torrential rains of unprecedented magnitude.”
Japanese public television NHK broadcast images of the submerged streets of Wajima.
Wajima and Suzu were among the cities hardest hit by the 7.5-magnitude earthquake that struck on January 1, killing at least 236 people in central Japan.
The region was still recovering from the earthquake, which destroyed buildings, destroyed roads and caused a large fire.
According to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency, about 16,000 residents of the neighboring cities of Niigata and Yamagata, further northeast, have also been ordered to evacuate.
Rainfall levels in Japan have reached record levels in recent years in several parts of the country, with sometimes deadly flooding and landslides.
Experts believe that climate change is increasing the frequency, intensity and unpredictability of these phenomena.
Source: Observadora
