174 People Confirmed Dead in Heavy Rain in Western Japan, with 86 Still Missing

July 12, 2018

Tokyo- The death toll from torrential rain that severely damaged western Japan through the weekend rose to 174 in 12 prefectures on Wednesday, with 86 people still unaccounted for in six prefectures, authorities said.

In stricken areas, where the mercury topped 30 degrees Celsius, search and rescue operations and infrastructure recovery work continued.

According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, 244,620 households had no running water as of noon (3 a.m. GMT). Of them, 211,008 were in Hiroshima Prefecture, 22,757 in Ehime Prefecture and 9,693 in Okayama Prefecture.

A total of 6,985 people were at evacuation centers in 15 prefectures, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.

In the Hiroshima city of Fukuyama, as cracks and slides were found on banks of two reservoirs, the municipal government issued an evacuation order to nearby households and started work to lower their water levels.

A similar evacuation order was issued in Takehara, another Hiroshima city.

In Okayama, 49 people have so far been confirmed dead in the massive deluge-hit Mabi district of Kurashiki alone.

The Okayama prefectural government said Wednesday that 38 people were newly found unaccounted for in the district. As a result, the total number of missing people in the prefecture, aged between 40 and 92, has risen to 43.

By prefecture, 71 people had been confirmed dead in Hiroshima, 57 in Okayama and 26 in Ehime as of the same day.

The death toll in Saga Prefecture increased to two, after an 81-year-old missing woman was found dead.

Meanwhile, the Japan Meteorological Agency said that the northern region of Okayama had some 40 millimeters of rainfall in one hour on Wednesday afternoon and warned of downpours in the region late in the night.

West Japan Railway Co. or JR West, said train services would be disrupted for at least a month in 10 sections of nine lines, including the Sanyo, Geibi and Fukuen Lines. Jiji Press