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Japan floods: 16 dead, including nursing home residents Japan floods leave dozens dead, including nursing home residents
(about 4 hours later)
Record rainfall triggers landslides in western Kumamoto region, washing bridges away and stranding hundreds Record rainfall triggers landslides in western Kumamoto region, stranding hundreds
Torrential rains that hit Japan’s southern island of Kyushu killed 16 people, with 13 going missing and 17 showing no vital signs, public broadcaster NHK said on Sunday, as the weather agency expects heavy rain to resume by evening. Deep floodwaters and the risk of further mudslides that have leftmany people dead have hampered search and rescue operations in southern Japan, including at elderly home facilities where more than a dozen residents died and scores were left stranded.
A woman and a man in their 80s in different towns in the western Kumamoto region died in mudslides, according to Japanese media. Helicopters and boats rescued more people from their homes in the Kumamoto region. More than 40,000 troops, the coast guard and fire brigades took part in the operation.
Many of those who died were residents of a nursing home, as announced by Governor Ikuo Kabashima on Saturday. Large areas along the Kuma River were swallowed by floodwaters, with many houses, buildings and vehicles submerged almost up to their roofs. Mudslides smashed into houses, sending people up on to rooftops waiting to be rescued.
The victims were found in cardio-respiratory arrest on Saturday at the facility for elderly people. It was flooded after a nearby river broke its banks, governor Ikuo Kabashima from the Kumamoto region told reporters. At a flooded elderly care home in Kuma Village, where 14 residents were presumed dead after rescuers reached them on Saturday, rescue efforts continued for the dozens of remaining residents and caregivers.
“The self-defence forces have launched rescue operations,” Kabashima said. Three others at the home were suffering from hypothermia, he added. Sixty-five residents and about 30 caregivers were trapped at the riverside care facility Senjuen when floodwaters and mud gushed in. The remaining 51 residents, including three who had hypothermia, had been rescued by boats and taken to hospitals for treatment by Sunday afternoon, officials said.
Between 60 and 70 people were in the home as water gushed through the second floor on Saturday morning, public broadcaster NHK said. Overall, 18 people were confirmed dead, while 16 others, including those at the nursing home, were presumed dead. Fourteen others were still missing as of Sunday afternoon. Dozens of other people were still trapped in inundated areas waiting to be rescued, according to the fire and disaster management agency.
Separately, local officials said another person was also found in cardio-respiratory arrest in landslides in Kumamoto. They had previously said two were feared dead. In Hitoyoshi City, the deluge poured into houses near the main train station. “The water rose to the second floor so fast and I just couldnt stop shivering, a 55-year-old woman who was visiting her relatives told the Asahi newspaper.
Elsewhere in Kumamoto, one person was seriously injured and nine others were missing, while about 100 people were stranded as roads were cut off by floods and landslides, NHK reported. She and her relatives ran upstairs, swam out of a window and eventually took refuge on the roof to wait for their rescue.
The country’s weather agency downgraded rain warnings by one notch from the highest emergency level in Kumamoto and nearby Kagoshima, but the prime minister, Shinzo Abe, urged local people to be on maximum alert. As floods eased in parts of Kumamoto on Sunday, vending machines and cars lay scattered on mud-coated streets. Some people were cleaning their homes, taking out damaged furniture and rinsing off mud.
Abe ordered 10,000 troops on standby for immediate deployment to join rescue and recovery operations, pledging the central government would “do its best to take emergency measures, prioritising people’s lives”. More than 200,000 residents in Kumamoto prefecture were urged to evacuate following heavy rain on Friday evening and into Saturday. The evacuation was not mandatory and many people opted to stay home because of concerns over catching coronavirus, even though officials say shelters are adequately equipped with partitions and other safety measures.
Television footage showed vehicles swamped at car parks near a flooding river, while several bridges were washed away. “I can’t evacuate as a road turned into a river. It’s so scary,” a female resident told NHK. Flooding also cut off power and communication lines, further delaying the search and rescue. Nearly 6,000 homes in Kumamoto were still without electricity on Sunday, according to the Kyushu Electric Power Co.
Haruka Yamada, a 32-year-old local resident, told Kyodo News: “I saw large trees and parts of houses being washed away and heard them crashing into something. The air is filled with the smell of leaking gas and sewage.” The rainfall that exceeded 100mm (4in) per hour has since subsided, but the Japan Meteorological Agency kept mudslide warnings in place across Kumamoto. Prefectural officials said evacuation advisories were still in place as more rain was predicted.
Aerial footage showed a resident being lifted with a rope from a roof to a military helicopter as an entire town became awash with muddy water.
A landslide destroyed several houses with rescuers searching for missing people through half-buried windows.
“We have issued evacuation orders after record heavy rain,” said Toshiaki Mizukami, another official for Kumamoto prefecture. “We strongly urge people to take action to protect their lives as it’s still raining quite heavily,” he told AFP.
Kyodo said more than 203,000 residents in Kumamoto and Kagoshima were advised to evacuate their homes. Some train services have been suspended in the region and more than 8,000 households lost power.
Japan is in its rainy season, which often causes floods and landslides, and prompts local authorities to issue evacuation orders.