Record rainfall in Japan’s Chiba Prefecture has killed four people and left thousands stranded overnight at Tokyo’s Narita Airport, as torrential rain disrupted rail, bus and texi services across the prefracture and left more than 20,000 households without power.
More than 360 millimetres of rain fell in parts of Chiba within 24 hours, according to authorities. The rainfall was around three times the average for August and marked the highest volume of precipitation ever recorded in the country.
The vast majority of the outages were in Chiba Prefecture, which was among the areas hardest hit by the storm.
“This case was an extremely unusual situation, even by Japan’s historical weather standards,” Chiba Governor Toshihito Kumagai told reporters on Friday morning. “I have responded to many disasters in the past, but I have never experienced a case like this. We will prioritise saving lives and keep carrying out rescue and recovery efforts,” he added.
The heavy rain on Thursday prompted Japan’s Meteorological Agency to issue a Level 5 Emergency Warning, the highest level on its scale. The warning was downgraded to Level 4 on Friday morning, but authorities continued to urge residents to remain alert for landslides, flooding and swollen rivers.
Japan’s Self-Defence Forces were deployed on Friday to help transport people stranded at railway stations.
Around 7,000 people spent the night at Narita Airport, one of Tokyo’s two main international airports, after heavy rain disrupted transport links to the airport on Thursday. An airport spokesperson said all flights were scheduled to operate normally on Friday. Japan Airlines said some flights could be delayed, but no cancellations were expected at the time.
Several railway services remained suspended on Friday morning, while some major highways were also closed.
The flooding follows a week of severe weather across East Asia, with Japan, China and the Philippines affected by a series of storms, including Dolphin, Chan-Hom and Peilou.
Earlier this week, Chinese authorities evacuated more than one million people as Typhoon Dolphin, described as the strongest typhoon to hit China so far this year, made landfall in the country’s east.
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