Search, rescue efforts in Japan hampered by harsh weather
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Torrential rain hampered the efforts of tens of thousands of rescue workers in southwestern Japan yesterday as they hunted for survivors from deadly floods and landslides, with more downpours forecast.
Around 50 people were feared dead after heavy rain lashed areas of western Japan from early Saturday, causing rivers to burst their banks and flood low-lying regions.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warned the weather front was heading across the country, predicting 鈥渉eavy rain over a wide area鈥 and urging people to 鈥渢ake action to protect their lives.鈥
In the worst-affected region of Kumamoto, bad weather was preventing some rescue efforts, local officials said, with at least 13 people still unaccounted for.
鈥淏ecause of the heavy rain, we were forced to cancel some emergency flights of helicopters over the disaster zone,鈥 local disaster management official Tsubasa Miyamoto said.
The floods washed away roads and bridges, cutting off many isolated communities.
A local firefighter in the western region of Kagoshima said they used boats to rescue 11 people, but conditions were making it hard to reach others stranded.
鈥淐alls came from people telling us that they wanted to flee their home but they could not do it on their own,鈥 he said.
鈥淪ome roads are submerged and you cannot drive through them.鈥
In one of the hardest-hit areas, residents wrote out the words 鈥渞ice, water, SOS鈥 on the ground, while others waved towels and called for rescue and relief goods.
At a nursing home for the elderly, 14 people were feared dead when water from a nearby river inundated the ground floor, leaving those in wheelchairs unable to reach higher ground.
Emergency services, aided by locals in rafts, managed to rescue around 50 residents and staff from the facility, bringing them to safety by boat.
Heavy rain is expected to continue today and the Japan Meteorological Agency issued a non-compulsory evacuation order for around half a million people in southwestern Japan.
鈥淚t鈥檚 such a mess,鈥 resident Hirotoshi Nishi told public broadcaster NHK as he swept debris from his mud-strewn front room. 鈥淢any pieces of wood came into my house. I don鈥檛 know what to do.鈥
Evacuation efforts are also hampered by fears of spreading the coronavirus that has killed almost 1,000 people in Japan, from close to 20,000 cases.
Partitions have been set up at evacuation centers to keep distances between families, and evacuees are made to wash their hands frequently, sanitise and wear face masks.
As night fell, a JMA official told reporters: 鈥淚n some cases, it can be more dangerous to go to shelters (than to stay at home).鈥
鈥淲e ask people to assess their situations, especially when it gets dark outside,鈥 he added, refering to the regions of Fukuoka, Nagasaki and Saga.
For some local business owners already battered by coronavirus, the natural disaster has compounded their problems.
Yuji Hashimoto, who runs a tourism bureau in the hot-spring resort in Yatsushiro, one of the flood-hit cities in Kumamoto, said that the 鈥渂eautiful tourism spot dramatically changed overnight.鈥
鈥淭he damage was beyond our imagination. It鈥檚 literally a bolt from the blue ... The disaster is a double-whammy as our hot spring resort was struggling to weather the impact of the coronavirus. We don鈥檛 know what will happen to us next,鈥 he said.
Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said 19 people were confirmed dead from the floods while another six were in a state of 鈥渃ardio-respiratory arrest鈥 鈥 a term often used before a doctor certifies death.
Suga said officials were investigating another 24 deaths to confirm a direct link to the floods.
More than 40,000 personnel from the police and fire departments, the coast guard and self-defense units were conducting search and rescue operations through the night.
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