Six people have been confirmed dead and six others were missing after "unprecedented" torrential rains hit parts of Ishikawa Prefecture over the weekend, triggering flooding and landslides.
The cities of Wajima and Suzu, as well as the town of Noto — which are still recovering from the powerful earthquake that struck the area on New Year's Day — have been hit particularly hard by the deluge, which began on Saturday. Many buildings and roads were inundated, and the Meteorological Agency warned of the possibility of further flooding and landslides.
According to the prefectural government, one person died in Suzu on Saturday. In Wajima the next day, an elderly man was found dead during searches in and around the Tsukada River, while the bodies of two elderly women were discovered elsewhere in Wajima, police and fire authorities said.
Also in Wajima, two people found in a state of cardiopulmonary arrest near a tunnel on a national road were later confirmed dead. One of the two was a construction worker involved in restoration work on the road.
The prefecture said that one person was missing each in Wajima and Noto. In Wajima, searches were also underway for four residents, including a junior high school girl, with whom contact had been lost following flooding of the Tsukada River.
The prefecture said earlier that as of 10 a.m. Sunday, there were closures at 38 locations across 17 roadways due to the heavy rain.
As of 6:25 p.m. Sunday, about 4,500 homes in Ishikawa Prefecture, including 3,000 in Wajima, 920 in Suzu and about 600 in the town of Noto, remained without power, according to Hokuriku Electric Power Co.
As of 5:30 p.m. Saturday, water pumps in eight districts of Wajima have stopped working due to power outages, resulting in supply disruptions. There is currently no estimate for when the situation will be resolved, according to NHK.
A Level 5 emergency warning issued Saturday for Wajima, Suzu and Noto, which urged residents to take immediate life-saving action, was downgraded to a regular warning on Sunday morning. But authorities called for continued vigilance due to the risk of landslides and flooding.
According to the agency, Wajima saw a record 498.5 millimeters of rain from Friday evening through 9:40 a.m. Sunday, while Suzu saw 391.5 mm.
On Sunday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said that because Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is abroad, he will take the lead in managing the disaster response.
Hayashi, who is among the Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers running to be the party’s next president, said he would prioritize disaster response and official duties, skipping events related to the leadership race for the time being.
The government’s top spokesperson said the prime minister instructed him to monitor the situation and assess the needs of local governments, paying attention to the fact that the region is still recovering from the January earthquake.
On Saturday, Hayashi called the amount of rain hitting the area “unprecedented,” adding that the Self-Defense Forces had been deployed to the area to aid rescuers and the relief effort. SDF troops were sent to the area following the Jan. 1 earthquake, and are due to wrap up that mission at the end of this month.
Photos and video posted to social media showed roads and sidewalks covered in muddy brown water and rivers overflowing.
On Saturday, a number of calls for help had come from Wajima, Suzu and other areas, NHK said, noting reports of landslides and houses having collapsed, with rescuers looking for any people who may be trapped.
The rains came nearly 10 months after a 7.6 magnitude earthquake devastated the area, killing 374 people and damaging over 85,000 homes, according to the latest data from the Ishikawa Prefecture Government.
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