'Race Against Time' In Japan Floods, 50 Feared Dead

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'Race against time' in Japan floods, 50 feared dead

Yatsushiro, Japan, July 7 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 7th Jul, 2020 ) :Emergency services in western Japan were "racing against time" on Tuesday to rescue people stranded by devastating floods and landslides, with at least 50 feared dead and more torrential rain forecast.

Japan's Meteorological Agency issued its highest emergency warning level for heavy rain and landslides over vast swathes of the southwestern Kyushu island, with downpours expected until Thursday.

The death toll from the heavy rains that started in the early hours of Saturday is expected to climb. An official in the hardest-hit region of Kumamoto told AFP that 49 were now confirmed dead with one other feared dead.

"We are racing against time," Yutaro Hamasaki, a Kumamoto official, told AFP early Tuesday morning.

"We have not set any deadline or time to end the operation, but we really need to speed up our search as time is running out. We won't give up to the end," Hamasaki vowed.

More than 40,000 personnel, including police and firefighters as well as coast guards and troops, were deployed to rescue people, with around a dozen still unaccounted for.

Rivers overflowing their banks have swept away bridges and turned roads into lakes, making rescue access possible only by raft or helicopter.

Nobuko Murakami, a 78-year-old woman whose house was destroyed by landslides, told local media: "I couldn't sleep as the sound of the rain was deafening. I have lived here for more than 50 years, but I have never seen such heavy rain. I wonder when I can get back home." Kentaro Oishi, who owns a rafting business in the hot springs resort of Hitoyoshi City, told AFP that the emergency services called him for help and he had swapped tourists for stranded locals.

"I have 20 years of rafting experience, but I never dreamed" of rowing the boat through the city, the veteran paddler told AFP.

"To tell you the truth, I was so scared at first when I saw the water levels rising so rapidly in the river," he said.