Emergency River Flooding Warning Issued for Wakayama due to Typhoon

Tokyo, June 3 (Jiji Press)–Typhoon Jangmi made landfall on the southern part of Wakayama Prefecture around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday, leading to the issuance of a Level 5 emergency flooding warning for the Koza River in the western Japan prefecture. The warning was issued by the Japan Meteorological Agency and the Wakayama prefectural government at 5:35 a.m. As the river, which runs through the Wakayama towns of Kozagawa and Kushimoto, overflowed around the Tsukinose district in Kozagawa, Level 5 emergency evacuation warnings requiring people to take immediate actions to protect their lives were issued for some areas in the towns. It was the first time that an emergency river flooding warning has been issued since the meteorological agency and the land ministry revised their weather warning system and introduced the alert level last month. “Please evacuate to safer places than where you are now because your lives are in danger,” Takuya Hosomi, head of the meteorological agency’s Forecast Division, said at a press conference. Linear precipitous zones formed in southern Wakayama and the southern part of nearby Tokushima Prefecture in the small hours of Wednesday, and in the Izu Peninsula region of Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan, later in the morning. A Level 5 emergency evacuation warning was issued also for part of Anan. A Level 4 urgent flooding warning was issued for the Zenpukuji River in Tokyo’s Suginami Ward at 7:10 a.m. Level 4 urgent warnings for heavy rain, landslides or river flooding were issued for parts of Wakayama, neighboring Mie Prefecture, Shizuoka and Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, and residents in many areas were ordered to evacuate. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called on people in areas under emergency warnings to immediately take measures to protect themselves. She also urged government staff to figure out the extent of damage and provide the public with accurate and timely information. After making landfall, Typhoon Jangmi moved east over the Pacific Ocean off the Tokai central region and is then expected to travel off the Kanto eastern region in the afternoon. Linear precipitous zones may form in Ibaraki and Chiba prefectures, both in Kanto, by Wednesday evening. The meteorological agency urged people in those areas to be on high alert for landslides, flooding of low-lying areas, swollen rivers, violent winds and high waves. At 7 a.m., the sixth typhoon of this year was moving east-northeast over a point off the Mie city of Shima at a speed of 45 kilometers per hour. It had a central atmospheric pressure of 980 hectopascals, packing a maximum sustained wind speed of 25 meters per second and a maximum instantaneous wind speed of 35 meters per second. Wind speeds were 15 meters per second or faster in areas within 560 km southeast of the center of the typhoon and 440 km northwest of the center. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]