2 die as heavy rain hits Kumamoto Prefecture in Japan
The Japan Meteorological Agency warned residents of the risk of landslides and swollen rivers, with the prefectural government issuing a landslide alert to municipalities as soil in the area has come loose due to the magnitude 6.5 and M7.3 quakes in mid-April and their aftershocks.
Downpours surpassing 100 millimeters per hour fell in areas of Kumamoto and neighboring Miyazaki Prefecture on the southwestern main island of Kyushu. The agency said rainfall of 150.0 mm per hour was logged around midnight Monday in Kosa, Kumamoto Prefecture, tying for the fourth highest on record in Japan.
The agency warned heavy rain is expected in areas of eastern and western Japan through Tuesday night as an atmospheric depression on a seasonal rain front is moving eastward.
In Kumamoto, a 92-year-old man died after his home was hit by a rain-induced landslide in Kamiamakusa. A 79-year-old man drowned after falling into a watercourse swollen by downpour in Kosa, both around midnight Monday, according to the local authorities.
Landslides occurred in at least two other locations in Uto, leaving one person missing. Another two people went missing at a landslide site in the city of Kumamoto, they said.
Authorities in the village of Minamiaso instructed 4,400 of its residents to evacuate to safer places, while the town of Mashiki issued milder evacuation advisories for some 34,000 residents.
