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More than 1,000 rescuers have arrived in a small Japanese town where a fatal landslide occurred on Saturday, killing two people.
As more rain hit the area, rescuers climbed up the cracked roof and searched the car that was thrown on the engulfed building.
A few days of heavy rain washed away houses in the central area and caused huge landslides. About 20 people are still missing. Japan On Saturday morning.
Television footage showed that in Atami, a resort town in southwestern Tokyo, a stream of mud crushed some buildings and buried others, while residents were running on the road that crashed on the hillside.
An official from Shizuoka Prefecture said on Sunday: “We resumed rescue operations early in the morning. There were about 1,000 rescuers, including 140 soldiers.”
“We are doing our best to find survivors as quickly as possible, and since it is still raining, we acted very carefully.”
The fire and disaster management agency stated that as many as 80 houses were buried.
“When rescuers urged people to evacuate, I heard terrible noises and saw mudslides flowing downward. So I ran to a higher place,” the head of the local temple told the public broadcaster NHK. “When I came back, the house and car in front of the temple were gone.”
NHK showed footage of collapsed and semi-submerged houses, while social media users posted videos of partially submerged cars and rescuers wading through waist-high water with small life rafts.
Heita Kawakatsu, Governor of Shizuoka Prefecture, told reporters that the Coast Guard found the bodies of two people who were caught in the sea by mudslides.
On Sunday, black water flows from vehicles half buried in the ground and buildings slanted from the foundations.
An air conditioning unit hangs down from a destroyed house and now perches on thick mud and debris.
The Tokyo Electric Power Company said on Saturday that about 2,800 households in Atami were out of power. The town is a famous hot spring resort, 90 kilometers (55 miles) from Tokyo.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga asked people in the area to be vigilant.
Yoshihide Suga said in a televised speech after the emergency working group meeting: “There may be more heavy rainfall. We need to maintain the highest level of caution.”
A live video posted on TikTok showed huge mud and debris slowly sliding down a steep road, almost engulfing a white car that drove away before the faster and more destructive torrent arrived. Up.
Most areas of Japan are in the annual rainy season, which lasts for several weeks, often triggering floods and landslides, prompting local authorities to issue evacuation orders.
Experts say, Climate emergency This phenomenon is exacerbating because the warmer atmosphere contains more water, leading to more intense rainfall.
More than 200 people died in the devastating flood Submerged Western Japan in 2018 and last year Dozens more people were killed The rescue work has been complicated by the coronavirus pandemic.
According to NHK data, Atami experienced 313 mm (12.3 inches) of rainfall in just 48 hours as of Saturday, which was higher than the monthly average of 242.5 mm in July.
The Japan Meteorological Agency urges the public to be vigilant against mudslides, floods and river swelling.
Residents of many other cities in Shizuoka City were also ordered to evacuate.
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