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Floods due to heavy rains have already killed 2 people in southern Japan. REUTERS / Kyodo

The Japanese authorities on Wednesday (August 28th) issued maximum warnings against heavy rainfall in southwestern Japan, including Kyushu Island, where large floods have already caused at least two deaths. Japanese authorities ordered the evacuation of nearly 850,000 residents.

The dead body of a man was found in his car washed away by the waves in Saga Prefecture, a local official told AFP. An octogenarian died drowned in similar circumstances in Fukuoka prefecture, as he tried to extricate himself from his car bomb by the rising waters, according to local authorities.

Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga also reported that another person in Saga Prefecture was in a state of " cardiopulmonary arrest, " an expression used in Japan to talk about a death that was not yet officially confirmed by a doctor.

Evacuation order for 850,000 inhabitants

Japanese authorities have ordered the evacuation of nearly 670000 inhabitants on Wednesday. In addition, they have recommended more than one million people to leave their homes because of the risk of floods or landslides.

The authorities, however, have great difficulty in enforcing these evacuation orders, as it is sometimes extremely difficult for the population to travel, especially at night and in isolated rural areas with a high proportion of elderly people.

Residents also find it difficult to anticipate the rapid rise of river water and tend to think that they have time to escape. In July 2018, more than 200 people were killed by floods in the country .

Yet " the risk of disaster is extremely high, " said an official of the National Agency of Meteorology at an emergency press conference on Wednesday morning. " We must take the maximum precautions to protect ourselves [...], please do not delay " to evacuate, had insisted this manager.

(With AFP)