Japan, torrential rains. Evacuation of one million people requested
Environment — di Andrea Barolini
The Japanese government has asked 1.1 million people to leave their homes. In 2018, severe weather killed 218 people.
Japan, torrential rains. Evacuation of one million people requested
The Japanese government has asked 1.1 million people to leave their homes. In 2018, severe weather killed 218 people.
Exactly as happened in July 2018, Japan is being lashed by torrential rains. To avoid repeating last year's nightmare, when severe weather killed 218 people, the Tokyo government has put in place an extraordinary measure: the evacuation of 1.1 million residents of the prefectures of Kagoshima and Miyazaki (in the south-western part of the country).
Floods, landslides and extensive material damage
The procedure remains, however, non-mandatory, and according to the local press a great many people have chosen to stay in their homes. Yet, according to the national meteorological agency, "if the torrential rains continue, we risk having to issue the maximum alert," which signals an imminent catastrophe. "And at that point it will be too late to evacuate the population," the body added.
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On Thursday 4 July, floods and landslides were recorded in some of the worst-affected areas. The force of the exceptional rainfall was such as to create rivers capable of sweeping away parked cars and of demolishing or damaging a number of structures, among them at least 80 homes, according to public broadcaster Nhk.
Absolute rainfall records broken in some parts of Japan
Between Thursday and today the severe weather has begun to move towards central Japan, and will subsequently go on to affect the eastern part of the island. Rail transport is therefore disrupted across much of the country, while hundreds of schools and offices have been closed.
Japan has ordered 1 million people to evacuate their homes as torrential rain continues to batter the south of the country.
The accumulations recorded between Monday and Wednesday alone — reports the specialist portal AccuWeather — reached 554 millimetres at Nichinan City (Miyazaki prefecture) and 641.5 millimetres at Kanoya (Kagoshima prefecture). These are the highest levels ever recorded in those two localities. To put this into perspective, the previous record at Kanoya was 510 millimetres, set on 7 July 1993.