Evacuation advisories issued as heavy rain drenches wide swaths of Japan

Jun 21, 2017 | News On Japan

Jun 21, 2017 (Japan Times) - Heavy rain hit a wide area on the Pacific side of the Japanese archipelago Wednesday, disrupting traffic and prompting local authorities to issue evacuation advisories for around 250,000 people in central regions due to possible flooding.

The body of a woman in her 60s was found in the sea off Kaizuka, Osaka Prefecture, on Wednesday morning. The woman's bicycle, believed to have been used for newspaper deliveries, was left near a flooded river in the city. Police suspect she had been washed away.

The torrential rain was due to a low-pressure system coupled with a rainy season front, the Meteorological Agency said. It warned of possible landslides in Oita and Kumamoto prefectures in Kyushu, where an earthquake with an intensity of 4 to upper 5 on the Japanese scale of 7 hit Tuesday night.

Heavy rain and strong winds also disrupted some railway services, including sections of the Tokaido Shinkansen Line.

The towns of Shirahama and Kozagawa in Wakayama Prefecture saw record downpours of over 80 mm per hour. The total amount of rainfall exceeded 100 mm in wide areas of Kyushu as well as sections of western and central Japan.

The local government in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, issued an evacuation advisory for around 250,000 residents in 130,000 households over the possibility of the Tsuribashi River flooding. Evacuation advisories were also issued for other areas in Shizuoka, as well as in Mie and Wakayama prefectures.

Source: ANNnewsCH

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