Narita, Chiba Pref., Sept. 24 (Jiji Press)–Heavy rain from Typhoon Dujuan, the 25th typhoon of the year, has flooded a total of 884 residential buildings above or below floor level in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, the prefectural government said Thursday. The total included newly counted 56 buildings in the town of Sakae, which faces Inbanuma, a major lake in northern Chiba. Embankments around the lake breached due to the disaster. In the city of Sakura, where the Takasaki River, which flows into the lake, flooded, 300 houses were inundated above floor level. The total is expected to rise as the prefectural government has yet to count the number of affected houses in the city of Narita, which experienced widespread flooding. Some areas around the lake remain flooded as work to drain water has not made progress. Areas around Inbanuma faced flood damage frequently in the past due to reverse flow from the Tone River. The lake has been divided into the northern and western sections in a reclamation project. According to the Japan Water Agency, which has managed the lake since 1968, the water level in the western part of Inbanuma reached a record high of 5.04 meters early Tuesday last week. An embankment facing the northern part of the lake collapsed over a stretch of about 100 meters. An embankment breach also occurred at the Nagato River, which links the northern part of Inbanuma and the Tone River. The breaches were the first since the completion of the reclamation project in 1969, according to the Chiba prefectural government. Preliminary drainage began Sept. 17 in preparation for the typhoon’s approach. The water level fell to 2 meters on Sunday, but drainage efforts could not catch up with the torrential rain. On Thursday, the prefectural government of Kanagawa, south of Tokyo, said that it has newly confirmed a death from heavy rain triggered by the typhoon. The new casualty was a woman in her 70s in the city of Yokosuka, who went missing after a landslide struck her house Monday. As of 4 p.m. Thursday, the death toll from the typhoon stood at 11–seven in Chiba and four in Kanagawa. A total of three people remain missing in the two prefectures, and Self-Defense Forces members, police officers and firefighters are continuing search operations. Among train lines of East Japan Railway Co., or JR East, that have been suspended due to the impact of the typhoon, services between Araki and Kioroshi stations on the Narita Line in Chiba will be resumed from Friday’s first trains, the company said. Operations are expected to restart from Saturday’s first trains between Kisarazu and Awa-Kamogawa stations on the Uchibo Line in Chiba. Meanwhile, it is expected to take at least three months to bring back to operation the section between Anegasaki and Kisarazu stations on the Uchibo Line, which was flooded with mud. It remains to be seen when the section between Kururi and Kazusa-Kameyama stations on the Kururi Line, also in Chiba, will be restored, according to JR East. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
