At least four dead due to torrential rains and flooding in eastern Japan

Tokyo.- At least four people died and another was seriously injured in the Japanese prefecture of Chiba, in the east of the archipelago and near the metropolis of Tokyo, after heavy rains triggered flooding the day before, local authorities stated this Friday, while thousands of people remain evacuated.

Among the four dead is a man in his 60s who was found on a flooded road, as well as a 66-year-old woman who was trapped in her vehicle covered by water, according to the most recent report released by the Chiba prefecture.

One person remains missing, according to the Japanese news agency Kyodo.

Local authorities are maintaining evacuation orders for this Friday that affect some 25,500 people, although this morning only 7,359 were in one of the 359 municipal shelters.

The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) issued a maximum alert for landslides in Chiba Prefecture on Thursday due to forecasts of heavy rain, and authorities ordered the evacuation of more than 400,000 people according to the Japanese Fire and Disaster Management Agency.

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The city of Chiba recorded 348 millimeters of rain in 12 hours, the highest amount since records began, according to the Japanese television network NHK.

Local authorities warned this Friday that, although the landslide alert level has been lowered to level 4 out of 5 by the JMA, the risk of landslides, flooding, and rising water levels remains high.

“There are many areas where the ground is quite unstable, which poses risks, including landslides,” the prefecture governor, Toshihito Kumagai, stated this morning at a press conference, according to NHK.

The rains recorded in eastern Japan come in a context of heavy rainfall, cyclones, and consequent flooding in several Asian countries so far this month, in which more than 50 people have died, affecting mainly China, India, the Philippines, and Myanmar.