Death Toll Reaches 65 after Heavy Rain in Japan

July 8, 2018

Tokyo- At least 65 people died in mudslides and other disasters caused by the torrential rain over the past few days mainly in western Japan, local government and other officials said Sunday.

With many people still missing, the government boosted the total number of rescue workers from the Self-Defense Forces and police and fire departments to 54,000 from 48,000 on Saturday.

"Rescue work is a fight against time. We'll do all we can, including flexible increases in the rescue forces," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the first meeting of a government disaster response task force established Sunday in response to the rain.

As of 5 a.m. (8 p.m. Saturday GMT), 6.15 million people of 2.7 million families in 23 of Japan's 47 prefectures were subject to evacuation orders or recommendations.

The number of deaths reached 27 in Hiroshima Prefecture, 18 in Ehime Prefecture, nine in Okayama Prefecture and three in Yamaguchi Prefecture. Deaths were reported also in the prefectures of Gifu, Kyoto, Shiga, Hyogo, Kochi and Fukuoka.

In the city of Hiroshima, the capital of the prefecture, women in their 70s and 40s died in mudslides in Asakita Ward. The prefectural government said that at least nine people are missing, adding that it has received many other reports about people unaccounted for.

Okayama Prefecture confirmed that five people died in the Mabi district of Kurashiki, where levees were breached and many places were flooded. Prefectural government officials said seven people are unaccounted for.

According to the transport ministry, a total of 23 railway routes were damaged including in Hiroshima, Kagawa and Saga prefectures. Some were flooded and others were hit by mudslides.

A bridge in the city of Hiroshima was washed away on the Geibi Line run by West Japan Railway Co. <9021>, or JR West.

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued special heavy rain warnings in Ehime and Kochi early Sunday morning. As a result, the total number of prefectures where such warnings were issued reached 11.

By Sunday afternoon, the warnings had been withdrawn in all 11 prefectures. Special warnings are issued when a once-in-decades disaster looks imminent.

The government is considering designating the torrential rain as a disaster of extreme severity. The designation would make affected municipalities eligible to receive stronger central government support.

The government launched a disaster response task force for the first time since huge earthquakes hit Kumamoto Prefecture and nearby areas in April 2016. Jiji Press