Flooding due to torrential rain in Kyushu. (Image via CNA)

At least 700,000 people evacuated amid Kyushu's torrential rain

Alfonsus Adi Putra
Social & Life
Weather
Aug 28, 2019
2119
KYUSHU - On Wednesday, torrential rain as fierce as +500mm was pouring over Kyushu, southwestern part of Japan. It is common for the region, the Japanese Meteorological Agency stated. The northern region of Kyushu often gets the mass downpour once every decade.

The Japanese local authorities issued a rare evacuation order for all the residents of Kyushu to prevent more casualties, as the downpour had exceeded their high-alert level and “catastrophe-prone”.

About 710,000 people had received the evacuation order from the authorities to evacuate as fast as they could and to protect their lives. From northern Kyushu, at least 240,000 people evacuated. As the data had been updated, about 670,000 people have evacuated.

Three prefectures received special orders: Fukuoka, Nagasaki, and Saga. The special orders were due to the unusual rate of downpour in these prefectures.

These orders are not mandatory by nature, but it is almost certain that the Japanese people in Kyushu are forced by circumstances to evacuate.

This “catastrophe” soon came true as the casualty number went to two people in Fukuoka and Saga drowned by the flood. Both casualties were two males, locked in their vehicles swept away by the flood. Some footages shared on social media also showed houses, roads, and vehicles in the inundated regions drowned in the muddy waters.

The Japanese local authorities urged the people residing in the southwestern part of Japan to take heed immediately and evacuate, learning from the downpour incident last summer that took lives of more than 200 people.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/japan-emergency-warning-life-threatening-rains-south-11847900

Weather , Japan , Flood , Rain , Landslide