Heavy rains are causing floods, landslides, and evacuations in Japan, with millions of people advised to flee. The nation’s meteorological authority issued evacuation warnings Saturday covering more than 5 million people.
The torrential rains have been battering Japan’s southwestern tip, leading to the country’s meteorological authority issuing a Level 5 evacuation order, the strongest level, for more than a million people across the prefectures of Saga, Nagasaki, Fukuoka, and Hiroshima.
A Level 4 evacuation order, the next strongest, was issued to 17 other prefectures, affecting more than 4 million residents, according to CNN News.
According to the Kyodo News, the stationary front that has brought downpours to western Japan since Wednesday is expected to stay parked over an area near the main island of Honshu for another week, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
The land ministry confirmed 14 rivers have flooded in seven prefectures. Yushi Adachi, from Japan’s meteorological agency, described the current rainfall as “unprecedented,” reports the BBC. “It’s highly likely that some kind of disaster has already occurred,” he said.
An official in Kumamoto, southwestern Japan, said officials are looking for a 76-year-old man who disappeared after trying to secure his fishing boat at a surging river, while in Nagasaki prefecture, a mudslide buried four people, at least one of whom was killed.
