Southwestern Japan is in a commonwealth of pinch after heavy flash rainfall battered the neighborhood last week , flooding rivers and triggering severe landslides .
accord toreports , at least 155 people are confirmed dead and loads more remain unaccounted for . The prefecture of Hiroshima , including the thickly populated eponymous city , and Ehime have been arrive at the hardest , yet the calamity has also harry nine other areas . The mathematical function of required evacuation areas indicate that an estimated2 million people have been displacedfrom their homes , though it rest unclear how many of these complex body part will still be standing when citizens are able to give back .
As of Monday , the rainfall have allay up andfurther word of advice have been lifted . Floodwaters have yet to recede , however , actuate monumental rescue drive as constabulary , fire department , first answerer , and soldier attempt to settle people trapped in debris and collect those that have been stranded on rooftops and along unpassable roads .
Many major highway and railing lines are still close and tens of 1000 of homes in Hiroshima are still without electricity or clean water .
fit in to Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga , the flurry of rain that began last week heighten to platter - breaking levels over the weekend . The Japan Meteorological Agency has reported that one area of the Kochi prefecture experienced a stupefying 26.3 cm ( 10.4 inches ) of precipitation in just three hours , closely as much as the mediocre amount for the full calendar month of July ( 32.8 centimeters or 12.9 inch ) , typically southwesterly Japan ’s second pie-eyed month after June .
The news agencyNHK statesthat 36.4 centimeters ( 14.3 inches ) of rainfall devolve between 5 am and 7 am on Sunday in the city of Uwajima , Ehime prefecture – about 1.5 times the average monthly rain for July .
The unprecedented rain are tragical , but not entirely unannounced – and could becomethe new normal . legion mood change mannequin have suggested that Japan will see an increasedfrequency and intensity of heavy rain daysin come years .
“ Mean hurriedness in Japan is expected to increase by more than10 percent over the twenty-first 100 , especially during the warm season , ” wrote the World Wildlife Fund ( WWF ) in theirNippon Changes report .
“ While regional differences will in all likelihood exist , summer ( June to September ) hastiness in Japan is expect toincrease 17 to 19 pct . "
Climate researchers also concord that alluvion - induce tropical cyclones ( called hurricanes after they turn over a certain wind speed ) are probable to become more vulgar and more stern throughout East Asia . This phenomenon of dialed - up utmost conditions events , which looks like touch on the storms reaching the Caribbean island and US East Coast as well , is known to be driven bywarming sea Earth’s surface temperature .
