Symbolic imageRecord rain east of Tokyo kills at least five, thousands stranded at Narita
Record rainfall in Chiba prefecture east of Tokyo has killed at least five people and forced evacuation orders for more than 400,000 residents. The New York Times reports eight dead.
The rain hit Chiba on Thursday evening, 13 August, at 115mm an hour, roughly what the prefecture normally records in all of August, the Guardian reports. In Ichikawa the body of a man believed to be in his 60s or 70s was found in a flooded road, and in Sakura a 66-year-old woman died when her car was trapped in floodwater; two other people are reported to have been unable to escape their vehicles. About 45,000 homes lost power, and soldiers were dispatched to help with relief. Chiba governor Toshihito Kumagai said on Friday he had responded to many disasters but had never experienced a case like this.
7,000 stranded at Narita
About 7,000 passengers spent the night at Tokyo's Narita airport, and 1,700 people took shelter in the Chiba prefectural government building.
First level-5 warning for the prefecture
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued its highest, level-5, warning for heavy rain and landslides in Chiba for the first time. Rain eased on Friday, but the ministry of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism urged people living near rivers at high flood risk to evacuate early.