Heavy rain suspended search-and-rescue operations in western Japan Thursday while the number of those listed as missing in landslides increased to 43 from 26, police said.
About 2,700 rescuers, including more than 600 troops, had to halt rescue efforts after the rain prompted authorities to issue an evacuation advisory in some part of Hiroshima city, 700 kilometres south-west of Tokyo.
Thirty-nine people are confirmed dead in the disaster triggered by torrential rain in the northern part of the city Wednesday, while the number of missing jumped.
More than 200 millimetres of rain in three hours on Wednesday caused mudslides in at least 31 areas. The downpour was more than what normally falls in the whole month of August, broadcaster NHK said.
Hundreds of people took refuge at emergency shelters in Hiroshima, as the heavy rain completely destroyed eight houses and caused severe damage to about 40, local government officials said.
About 140 houses were also inundated and some 1,200 households had no water supply, the report said.
“It’s extremely rare that this many people were killed within one or a few kilometres (in a natural disaster),” Disaster Management Minister Keiji Furuya told reporters.
“We want rescue workers to prevent the spread of the damage or secondary disasters amid fears of further landslides in areas expected to receive more rainfall,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Thursday.
Late Wednesday, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui said the city had only issued an evacuation advisory “after the disaster struck the area.”
Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko cancelled an eight-day retreat.
Authorities warned of further heavy rains, mudslides, flooding and swollen rivers under unstable weather conditions in western Japan and the northern part of the island of Kyushu and the north-east.
GNA
PDC
