Heavy rainstorms in southwestern Japan have ravished entire towns and killed over 100 people. The AP reports there are at least 80 people who are missing after a system slammed the area with floods and mudslides.
The torrential downpours caused residents in cities like Okayama, Kurashiki, and Hiroshima to their rooftops and balconies to avoid rising waters, with levels reaching as high as 16 feet tall in some areas.
The rainfall has occurred since last week and landslides were said to potentially continue after the rain would be finished. Homes in the Japanese area were damaged and overhead pictures show just treetops. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has deployed 73,000 troops and emergency personnel to the area to assist residents.
Rain warnings were lifted on Monday morning and it was reported the areas were hit by 3 inches of rain per hour.
Providing details of his experience, local restaurant owner Seiji Toda stated “I had never seen anything like this” and detailed the work to clean up the damage is beyond the means of hand work.
#Japan‘s torrential rain 100 dead, dozens missing following floods and landslides pic.twitter.com/eLBz4S8NO9
— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) July 9, 2018
57 dead as #Japan scrambles to rescue Japan flood victims. Mud slides and flooding continues. pic.twitter.com/oTpmygxNsK
— BeeNewsDaily (@BeeNewsDaily) July 8, 2018
Western #Japan have received three times the usual rainfall for the whole of July, the town of #Motoyama, 583mm (23in) of rain fell between Friday morning and Saturday morning.Most of the deaths occurred in #Hiroshima prefecture.#Japanfloods #Flood #extremeweather pic.twitter.com/0KzQDWbibZ
— CHENNAI WEATHER 1 (@CHENNAIWEATHER1) July 8, 2018