Heavy rains continued on the Japanese island of Kyushu and at least one river overflowed, while the number of people who died during 3 days of floods and mudslides rose to about 50, and rescue operations were hampered.
Heavy rains are supposed to head from the west of the country to its east by tomorrow, Wednesday, which increases the risk that it will affect a "very large area", as warned by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday, calling on people to be very careful.
The Japanese Broadcasting Corporation said that the authorities had issued orders to evacuate more than half a million residents of the island, in addition to recommendations to evacuate tens of thousands of people in western Japan.
Local authorities on Kyushu Island (southwest) fear that 50 people have been killed after severe storms hit the area since Saturday morning, while 13 people are still missing.
"Because of the heavy rains, we were forced to prevent helicopters from flying over the affected areas," Tsubasa Miyamoto, an official in the Kumamoto region on the island of Kyushu, told the French press.
Collapse and victims
Television footage showed streets turned into rivers of fast flowing water up to the waist, a collapsed bridge, upside-down cars and a helicopter flying a man from a flooded house.
In one of the hardest hit areas, residents wrote the phrase "rice, water, relief" on the ground, while others waved handkerchiefs for help, according to pictures taken from helicopters.
In a home for the elderly in Kumamoto district, 14 people were feared to have died on Saturday when the waters swept through the ground floor, preventing inmates traveling in wheelchairs from taking refuge in the upper floors.
Rescue operations face complications, in addition to the continuation of bad weather, due to the risks of infection of the emerging corona virus.
Barriers were placed in evacuation centers to maintain social distance, and residents were asked to wash their hands frequently and to put up masks.
Mobilize and save
And 40,000 elements of the police, fire brigade, coast guard and Japan Self-Defense Forces were mobilized to help the victims and search for the missing.
So far, 800 people have been rescued, as government spokesman Yoshihide Soga Monday confirmed, and nearly 10,000 homes have been deprived of electricity and 2,400 of water.
The rainy season currently in Japan often causes torrential rains and landslides, often prompting authorities to order evacuation of residents of vulnerable areas.
These floods are the worst natural disaster in Japan since Hurricane Hagibis swept through in October last year, killing nearly 90 people.