Emergency Flood Warning Issued for Wakayama Pref. 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 flood 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 flooding may have already occurred, maximum caution for inundation is needed in the Wakayama towns of Kozagawa and Kushimoto, according to authorities. The river runs through the two towns. It was the first time that the emergency flood warning has been issued since the meteorological agency and the land ministry revised their weather warning system and introduced the alert level recently. Linear precipitous zones formed in southern Wakayama and the southern part of Tokushima Prefecture in the small hours of Wednesday, and Level 5 emergency evacuation warnings requiring people to take actions immediately to protect their lives were issued for some areas of Kozagawa, Kushimoto and the city of Anan in Tokushima. Later, Level 4 urgent warnings for heavy rain, landslides or river flooding were issued for parts of the prefectures of Shizuoka, Mie, Nara and Wakayama, and residents in many areas were ordered to evacuate. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]