Level 5 Flood Warning Issued for Central Japan River

(The final paragraph should have read, “…Typhoon Krovanh…” instead of as sent. A substitute story follows.) Level 5 Flood Warning Issued for Central Japan River Tokyo, Sept. 8 (Jiji Press)–The Japan Meteorological Agency and the land ministry issued the highest Level 5 emergency flood warning for the Shonai River, which flows through Aichi and Gifu prefectures in central Japan, at 6:20 p.m. Tuesday. Heavy rain hit parts of the Tokai central region in the afternoon due to a rain front extending along the Pacific coast. The water level at the Seko reference observation station in Nagoya, Aichi, on the Yada River, which is part of the Shonai River system, reached a level that could trigger flooding. “It is necessary to ensure your safety by moving to higher ground that is less prone to flooding,” Takuya Hosomi, director of the agency’s Forecast Division, said at a press conference. The emergency flood warning affects 14 municipalities, including Nagoya and Seto in Aichi and Tajimi and Toki in Gifu. Around 4:30 p.m., the agency said that a linear precipitation band had formed in the two prefectures. The agency issued reports of record-breaking short-term rainfall in the prefectures. In Nagoya, 104.5 millimeters of torrential rain fell in the hour ending just after 4:50 p.m., breaking the all-time record for that location. Forecasts for possible linear precipitation bands through Wednesday were issued for the Kanto-Koshin eastern to central regions, the Tokai central region and the Shikoku western region. Such bands may form through dawn in the prefectures of Ibaraki, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo and Kanagawa in eastern Japan, through noon in Tokushima and Kochi prefectures in western Japan and through evening in Gifu, Shizuoka, Aichi and Mie prefectures in central Japan. The rain front is expected to remain almost stationary along the Pacific coast of eastern and western Japan through Thursday, while the tropical depression that developed from Typhoon Krovanh is expected to turn into a low-pressure system along the front over western Japan on Wednesday. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]