An enormous mudslide as a result of torrential rains tore down several residential buildings in Japan. The fate of around 20 people was initially uncertain, as local media reported on Saturday from the coastal town of Atami, famous for its hot onsen baths, in Shizuoka Prefecture, southwest of Tokyo. Rescue workers looked for the missing. The authorities issued the highest warning level and called on around 25,000 households to get to safety. The military was asked for assistance. The government set up a crisis team.
Japanese television showed how a massive wave of black mud suddenly breaks from a slope through several houses and pulls everything with it. For a moment you were almost reminded of a tsunami. In other places along the Pacific coast, residents have also been warned to seek safety from swelling rivers, flooding and possible landslides. The heavy rainfall also led to an interruption in rail traffic. Shinkansen bullet train operations between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka were briefly suspended.
In the course of global warming, Japan is recording more and more heavy rainfall, which also leads to more and more landslides. In the past ten years, according to official information, an average of almost 1,500 landslides have occurred in the mountainous island kingdom - that is almost twice as many as in the previous ten years.