Japan Floods Deaths Rise to 11, More Storms Forecast
Date: 16-Jul-04
Country: JAPAN
Author: Issei Kato
Adding to the misery, further storms were predicted for Friday.
Unprecedented downpours this week caused swollen rivers to burst their banks, touched off landslides in Niigata prefecture, forced thousands to evacuate and left thousands more trapped in their homes awaiting rescue.
People from more than 13,000 households were evacuated in Niigata, waiting tensely in public halls and schools for the waters to recede.
An elderly man and woman who had been missing were found dead in their homes in Nakanoshima, bringing the death toll to 11, a Niigata prefecture official said.
More than 430 mm (17 inches) of rain had fallen in some parts of the region since Monday night. While rain had largely stopped by Thursday evening, a Meteorological Agency official said rainfall of up to 25 mm (1 inch) an hour might hit parts of Niigata on Friday.
Residents in Nakanoshima, where torrents of water rushed through parts of the town this week after a river burst its banks, began the laborious process of clearing wreckage from choked streets and shovelling oily-smelling mud from their homes.
THICK MUD
"The house of somebody I don't even know came floating onto my property," an elderly man said.
A woman in work clothing gestured at the thick mud covering the floor of her house.
"I hardly know where to start. It leaves me speechless," she told NHK television. "I don't even have the strength to think about it."
Television footage of the nearby city of Sanjo showed residents sloshing through knee-deep water with possessions in sacks slung over their shoulders.
One elderly couple held hands as they walked.
Kan Inomoto, a 68-year-old Sanjo resident, said the strength of the floodwaters was shocking.
"It burst into our house and lifted up our refrigerator. Then it broke the windows," he said at the evacuation center where he was staying with his wife Teruyo, 64.
"We fled to the second floor but then our food ran out, so we came here."
More than 10 helicopters were sent by the military and local governments to help rescue efforts, and rescuers - including members of the Japanese military - labored through the night to remove people from their homes.
By Thursday morning, all those left stranded in their houses had been rescued, NHK television said. (Additional reporting by Masayuki Kitano)
