400,000 people evacuated in Japan from Flooding

1. Japan flooding: 3 deaths, dozens missing in deluge

   CNN-4 hours ago

   Tokyo (CNN) Heavy flooding over eastern Japan has caused three deaths, ... More than 400,000 people have been evacuated, officials said.
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   Japan flooding: 3 deaths, dozens missing in deluge

   

   

   By Will Ripley and Euan McKirdy, CNN

   Updated 2:22 AM ET, Fri September 11, 2015 | Video Source: CNN

   
   

   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   Story highlights

   • Three deaths have been reported after severe flooding hit eastern Japan
   • At least 22 are missing, state media reports
   • Helicopters pluck stranded residents from their homes surrounded by raging floodwaters

   Tokyo (CNN)Heavy flooding over eastern Japan has caused three deaths, almost two dozen unaccounted for and houses washed away as residents were forced to their rooftops, desperate for rescue by military helicopters.

   In Miyagi Prefecture, one woman was found dead in her floating car, and in Tochigi Prefecture, to the north of the capital Tokyo, two deaths were reported, one in a landslide and another who had drowned.

   At least 28 people are injured across 10 prefectures in Japan, police say, and at least 22 people have been reported missing since floods inundated parts of eastern Japan.

   

   Japan flooding: What's next after record rains? 02:43

   Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper cited authorities in reporting the landslide death of a 63-year-old woman in Kanuma, Tochigi Prefecture.

   The raging brown floodwaters spawned from Tropical Storm Etau, which has dumped 60 centimeters (2 feet) of rain over some areas since Monday.

   Combine that with several weeks of near-daily rainfall, and swaths of eastern Japan are now deluged.

   "Tochigi Prefecture is facing a grave danger and is in an emergency situation," Japan Meteorological Agency Spokesman Takuya Deshimaru said Thursday. "It is experiencing unprecedented downpour."

   Joso: At the heart of the floods

   At daybreak Friday in the city of Joso, Ibaraki Prefecture, CNN saw Japan Self-Defense Force (SDF) helicopters land on the roof of a shopping center where dozens of people had been stranded overnight.

   In a rare break from the almost-daily rains, a hot sun has allowed flood waters to visibly recede, but many roads remain impassable. Drivers who attempted to ford the inundated streets were forced to abandon their broken down vehicles.

   Additionally, local firefighters rescued 20 people, an official from Joso City's Information Office said. Nine people were reported missing in that city, authorities said.

   Hundreds were reportedly left stranded overnight in the city, after the Kinugawa River burst its banks.

   The Miyagi prefectural office told CNN that 181 people are still waiting for rescue in the stricken city.

   READ MORE: Stranded, worried: The faces of Japan's flood victims

   Hundreds of thousands evacuated

   More than 400,000 people have been evacuated, officials said. Almost a million, including in Tokyo, and in seven other prefectures, have been issued evacuation advisories -- where residents have been warned they may need to leave their homes because of rising water.

   Some of those who didn't leave found their houses submerged within minutes.

   Members of the Japanese Self Defense Forces dropped from helicopter lines to pluck stranded residents from their roofs. Two by two, they swung precariously over the raging currents as they were pulled back up to the aircraft.

   The Self Defense Forces had rescued 101 people by Thursday afternoon, a spokesman said.

   Ibaraki prefecture said 70 people out of the 176 there who had called for help had been rescued.

   Red Cross on scene

   The Japanese Red Cross told CNN that it hasn't yet encountered anyone in need of medical assistance.

   It is providing mattresses, pillows, blankets, emergency kits and radios to the evacuated residents who are sleeping in the gyms of local elementary and high schools, communications officer Naoki Satani said. It is not providing any food.

   Inundated

   In parts of Tochigi, more than 50 centimeters (1.6 feet) of rain fell in 24 hours, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported. That's about double the amount that typically falls in the region for all of September, it said.

   Fukushima prefecture, which was devastated by the 2011 tsunami, saw more than 30 centimeters (1 foot) of rain in 48 hours -- the heaviest downpour there in 50 years, NHK said.

   TEPCO, the company that operates the failed reactors in Fukushima that at the time caused one of the biggest nuclear accidents in history, said it detected slightly tainted "rainwater flowing out into the ocean" from the site earlier in the week.

   And the disaster is far from over. Inundated parts of eastern Japan will get another 5-10 centimeters (2-4 inches) of rain over the next 36 hours, CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam said Thursday.

   The mountains will help induce more rain and will funnel the precipitation -- intensifying flooding and causing an even greater risk of mudslides.

   CNN's Yoko Wakatsuki, Paul Armstrong, Holly Yan and Yazhou Sun contributed to this report.

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   Japan flooding: 3 deaths, dozens missing in deluge