1.36 million people asked to evacuate due to heavy rains in Japan’s Kyushu region

Extremely heavy rain fell in the northern Kyushu region on Tuesday morning, causing rivers to flood, due to a seasonal rain front remaining stationary.

One death was confirmed in Fukuoka Prefecture, in addition to 49 deaths already confirmed in Kumamoto Prefecture as a result of Saturday’s torrential rains.

Twelve people remain unaccounted for, and rescue efforts are continuing in the hardest-hit areas, according to the Kumamoto and Kagoshima prefectural governments.

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a heavy rain emergency warning at 4:30 p.m. Monday for three prefectures in the northern Kyushu region: Fukuoka, Saga and Nagasaki.

The agency replaced the emergency warning with a lower-level warning for the three prefectures at 11:40 a.m. on Tuesday, but continued to urge strong caution, telling the residents in the areas to “make sure to ensure safety in line with local governments’ evacuation advisories and other instructions and remain cautious about possible landslides and flooding.”

The Fukuoka prefectural government on Tuesday announced it had confirmed the death of an 87-year-old woman at her home after it was inundated due to heavy rains in Omuta in the prefecture.

Flooding occurred along the Chikugo River between its upper and middle reaches at 8:35 a.m. on Tuesday, the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry said. The flooding caused damage and inundation of houses along the river in Hita, Oita Prefecture.

Hita Police Station said it received a call shortly before 8 a.m. Tuesday from a man in the city who said a woman in her 70s had been swept away by a river. The woman is believed to have been swept away by the Kusu River, and the police continued to search for her.

The flooding of the Chikugo River is feared to cause damage and inundation of buildings also in Kurume, Ukiha, Asakura and Tachiarai in Fukuoka Prefecture.

As water levels of the Shimouke Dam straddling the border of Oita and Kumamoto prefectures rose, the ministry on Tuesday morning took the emergency step of discharging water from the dam into the Tsue River of the Chikugo River system. It poses no immediate risk of flooding as there is another dam downstream.

Meanwhile, in Yamaga, Kumamoto Prefecture, the deaths of a man and a woman were confirmed after they were found in a car. Earlier in the day, a local fire department headquarters received a call from a passerby who found two people in an inundated vehicle. The Kumamoto prefectural police are investigating any connection between the two incidents.

■ Designated emergency

The government plans to designate the ongoing torrential rains in the Kyushu region as an extraordinary disaster. If the designation is made, special administrative measures will be applied, such as allowing people affected by the disaster to have their driver’s license validity extended.

“The government will work on the recovery and reconstruction of the affected areas as soon as possible, while considering the designation of an extraordinary disaster,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a Tuesday press conference.

■ More rain forecast

The seasonal rain front, which has caused heavy rainfall in the Kyushu region, is expected to remain stationary from western Japan to the Tohoku region through Wednesday, the agency said.

With warm, moist air flowing in toward the front, heavy rains are forecast over a wide area. Residents in rain-hit areas are required to be on full alert against landslides and flooding of rivers.