Japan: Flood death toll rises to 14
The death toll from torrential rains and flooding in northern Japan rose to 14 today after officials recovered the bodies of two people earlier reported missing. One woman remained unaccounted for.
Since Monday, as much as 49cms (20ins) of rain has fallen in Niigata prefecture – nearly one-fifth the annual average – and the heavy rains were expected to continue, Niigata Observatory spokesman Hajime Ito said.
Ito said about 15cms (six inches) more rain was expected in Niigata through Sunday.
Rescue workers found two men drowned in rice fields early today, Niigata official Takeshi Matsuda said. The two deaths put the number killed during the past week at 14, most of them elderly, he said.
A 42-year-old woman remained missing who was reportedly last seen on Tuesday heading for a nearby shelter, Matsuda said.
Among the hardest-hit areas was Sanjo, a city about 220kms (135 miles) north-west of Tokyo, where collapsed banks along the Ikarashi River left thousands of homes and other buildings swamped and forced dozens of schools to close.
More than 3,800 people continued to take refuge in emergency shelters throughout the prefecture, Matsuda said.
About 25,000 homes and apartment buildings had been flooded, officials said.
Niigata is one of Japan’s major rice-growing regions and a wide expanse of paddy fields as well soybean farms was buried in mud, the officials said.
