Chiba Downpour Leaves 5 Dead, 2 in Cardiopulmonary Arrest

Chiba, Aug. 14 (Jiji Press)–Heavy rain that struck Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, on Thursday evening has left five people dead and two others in cardiopulmonary arrest before subsiding in the small hours of Friday, the prefectural government’s disaster response headquarters said. The maximum Level 5 emergency heavy rain warnings issued for 22 municipalities in the prefecture and Level 5 emergency landslide warnings for six municipalities were downgraded to Level 4 or lower warnings at 5:15 a.m. Friday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said. Since atmospheric conditions will likely remain unstable through early Saturday in the Kanto-Koshin eastern to central regions, including Chiba, the agency urged the public to remain on high alert for landslides, swollen rivers, inundation of low-lying areas and flooding. As of 5 p.m. Friday, two people have been confirmed dead in the city of Sakura, and one each in the cities of Chiba, Ichikawa and Yachiyo, according to the disaster response headquarters. Two others, one in the city of Chiba and the other in the city of Kashiwa, are in a state of cardiopulmonary arrest. One person is unaccounted for in the city of Chiba, the capital of the prefecture. A total of 359 evacuation centers were set up in the prefecture, sheltering 7,359 people from 3,855 households. Many people, mainly commuters, were unable to return home, with about 4,000 people temporarily stranded near East Japan Railway Co.’s Soga Station in Chuo Ward in the city of Chiba. Ground Self-Defense Force troops transported them to evacuation centers by bus and other means. Some 1,700 people facing difficulties returning home evacuated to the Chiba prefectural government building. “I was trapped in a train for five hours,” a woman in her 40s from the city of Ichihara said. “I could sleep for only three hours,” said Aki Iwafune, a 28-year-old part-timer from the same city. About 7,000 people stayed the night at Narita International Airport in the prefecture. In the prefecture, linear precipitation zones intermittently developed from Thursday evening, and the meteorological agency issued short-term downpour information 25 times in total. In Chuo Ward of the prefectural capital, rainfall reached 115.0 millimeters in an hour through 6:45 p.m. Thursday and 348.0 millimeters in the 12 hours through 1:40 a.m. Friday, both record highs for the area. The severe rain was caused by warm, moist air flowing from the southeast around a high-pressure system near Chishima islands off Hokkaido, northernmost Japan, colliding with northerly winds. Cold air aloft also contributed to the formation of cumulonimbus clouds in the area. The maximum 24-hour rainfall through 6 p.m. Saturday is forecast at 100 millimeters in the Kanto eastern region and 80 millimeters in the Koshin central region. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]