Rescuers search for dozens still missing after Japan floods

Started by bing101, July 09, 2018, 10:21:28 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

bing101

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/rescuers-search-for-dozens-still-missing-after-japan-floods

This is one of Japan's largest storms in history

QuoteHIROSHIMA, Japan – Rescuers in southwestern Japan dug up more bodies Monday as they searched for dozens still missing after heavy rains caused severe flooding and left residents to return to their homes unsure where to start the cleanup. More than 100 people were confirmed dead in the disaster.Minoru Katayama, 86, rushed back to his home in Mabi city, in Okayama prefecture, and found his 88-year-old wife, Chiyoko, collapsed on the first floor. Floodwaters had started rising so fast that the elderly couple was caught by surprise."My wife had bad legs and she could not climb up the stairs, or nobody else was around to help us out,"  he told national broadcaster NHK. His wife, who stayed behind and let her husband flee, was among more than 20 people who were found dead in the city, where a river dike collapsed.
At a hospital in Mabi town, about 300 patients were temporarily trapped inside, but all had been safely airlifted by emergency rescue workers by early Monday.


The Fire and Disaster Management Agency said 110 people were confirmed dead as of Monday night. Officials and media reports said at least 80 people were still unaccounted for, many of them in the hardest-hit Hiroshima area.[/font]The Japan Meteorological Agency said as much as 10 centimeters (3 inches) of rain per hour fell on large parts of southwestern Japan. All rain warnings have been lifted.[/color]
A Hiroshima resident, Seiji Toda, took precautions because of his fresh memory of flooding four years ago that killed more than 70 people in Hiroshima. But he was shocked and helpless when he saw his restaurant, which he opened nearly 40 years ago, filled with mud heaped about 1 meter (yards) above the floor and windows smashed. Tables, covered with clean white tablecloths before he left, were all mud-covered, chairs thrown to the floor.[/color]
"I had never seen anything like this,"  he said on TBS television, standing outside his restaurant in Hiroshima city while wearing a helmet.[/color]
Next to his restaurant were heaps of broken trees and other debris. Several cars were still half buried in the mud.[/font]



Opinions expressed here on belong solely to the poster and do not represent or reflect the opinions or beliefs of AARoads, its creators and/or associates.