In Japan, the death toll from flooding rises to six

Japanese television channel NHK and other local media announced on Monday, September 23, that flooding and landslides that have hit the center of the country over the past two days have so far caused the deaths of six people.

A rescue official spoke to Agence France-Presse (AFP) about the results. “one dead and five people in cardiac arrest”, after torrential rains in the Ishikawa department. The term “cardiovascular arrest” It is used in Japan to refer to people who have died but whose death has not been officially certified by a doctor.

According to local authorities cited by NHK, two workers working on a road damaged by the earthquake were found dead after a landslide while their colleagues were able to take shelter in a tunnel.

Unprecedented torrential rains

In Wajima, a coastal town in Ishikawa Prefecture, the body of a man was pulled from a river. In Suzu, another town in the region, a person was found under the rubble of his house buried by a landslide. Two people are still missing.

Throughout the weekend, dozens of muddy rivers overflowed their banks, causing immense damage in areas already damaged by the earthquake of 1^Ahem January that killed at least 374 people.

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) reported “torrential rains of unprecedented magnitude”. Rainfall exceeded 540 mm between Saturday and Sunday in Wajima, the heaviest continuous rainfall recorded since records began in 1976.

Thousands of homes deprived of electricity and running water

Local authorities in Ishikawa prefecture, on the Sea of ​​Japan coast, had requested the evacuation of some 110,000 people, while the JMA had issued a maximum emergency alert for the region.

In addition to flooded buildings, numerous landslides blocked roads, while some 6,200 homes were left without electricity and at least 1,700 homes without running water.

“Within about 30 minutes, water gushed out onto the street and quickly reached half the height of my car.” Akemi Yamashita, a 54-year-old Wajima resident, told AFP. “I was talking to other residents of Wajima and they said, ‘It’s so heartbreaking to live in this town. ’ I got tears in my eyes when I heard that.”he said, describing the earthquake and flooding as directly “taken from a movie”.

The massive flooding affected many homes, including eight temporary housing centres in Wajima and Suzu, where victims of the 7.5-magnitude earthquake earlier this year are still living. The military was called in to reinforce the entire rural region along the Sea of ​​Japan.