A muddy pile of trees rolling down a slope, houses flooded by the overflow of a river, a completely collapsed bridge.
The images of northern Japan broadcast by local television are impressive.
Several rivers came out of their beds on Thursday after heavy rains in the north led to the evacuation of 200,000 inhabitants.
Two people were missing, the government spokesman told reporters as authorities warned of an increased risk of landslides and flooding.
suspended trains
State broadcaster NHK said the non-binding evacuation notices were for five counties across the country: Niigata, Yamagata, Fukushima, Ishikawa and Fukui.
Some high-speed trains (shinkansen) have been suspended in affected areas.
In 2021, heavy rains caused a gigantic landslide in the seaside resort of Atami (central Japan), where 27 people were killed.
And in 2018, floods and landslides killed more than 200 people in western Japan during the annual rainy season.
According to scientists, global warming increases the risk of intense rainfall events in Japan, as elsewhere in the world, insofar as a warmer atmosphere retains more water.
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