FUKUOKA, Aug 12 (Alliance News): Torrential rains have battered southwestern Japan, leaving at least two people feared dead and several others missing as floods and landslides struck on Monday, local authorities said.
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued an emergency rain alert for Kumamoto Prefecture, later downgrading it but still warning residents to stay on high alert.
In Kosa, Kumamoto, a man went missing after a landslide swept away his car while he was evacuating with his family. His wife and two children survived. Police are confirming the identity of a man found nearby with no signs of life.
In Yatsushiro, a woman was found dead inside a car that plunged into an irrigation canal. Reports also emerged of houses and cars washed away in Kumamoto and neighboring Fukuoka Prefecture.
Rescuers pulled a man in his 60s from a collapsed house in Misato, while 15 people stranded at a campsite in Kamiamakusa were later brought to safety.
In Fukutsu, two people in their 60s were swept away by a river on Sunday, with search operations ongoing.
Meanwhile, a woman in her 30s was confirmed dead in Kagoshima Prefecture after her house collapsed in a landslide caused by earlier rains.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba pledged full disaster response efforts and urged residents to remain vigilant.
Bullet train services in Kyushu were suspended in the morning but resumed later in the day.
Tamana in Kumamoto recorded 370 mm of rain in just six hours — almost double the average rainfall for all of August.
