Authorities in Japan have urged over 138,000 people to evacuate due to the risk of landslides and flooding amid heavy rains that have hit the country, a national broadcaster said on Saturday
TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th July, 2022) Authorities in Japan have urged over 138,000 people to evacuate due to the risk of landslides and flooding amid heavy rains that have hit the country, a national broadcaster said on Saturday.
According to NHK, 8,500 people are instructed to evacuate in the city Ishinomaki in the northeastern Japanese prefecture of Miyagi. In some areas of the prefecture the rainfall amounted to a months norm in just one day, streets are flooded, people are being evacuated by boats. In Wakayama prefecture in central Japan, almost 15,000 people were instructed to evacuate. In the city of Sagamihara in Kanagawa prefecture near Tokyo - 42,800 people. In Shizuoka prefecture - more than 72,000 people.
The instructions to evacuate constitute the fourth of the five possible threat levels. The authorities are calling for the evacuation to be completed while it is still possible, before the announcement of the fifth threat level, when there will be a direct risk of landslides and flooding of rivers.
The heavy rain front has engulfed almost the whole territory of the country and is expected to remain through Sunday. Meteorologists warn that localized downpours of 50 millimeters or more per hour could hit hit western Japan on Saturday and eastern and northern Japan overnight through Sunday, NHK reported.
