Japan floods: At least 100 dead in record rainfall

The restoration of roads has allowed more rescue teams to reach disaster-affected areas, resulting in the detection of a greater number of the dead and missing in Hiroshima, Okayama and Ehime prefectures.

The heavy rainfall has been attributed to the remnants of a typhoon feeding into a seasonal rainy front.

Scientists have warned that one outcome of global warming could be an increase in rain-related disasters, and experts now say people should leave well in advance of evacuation orders where forecasts show heavy rain is possible.

83 people have died since Thursday and 57 others are unaccounted for. Military paddle boats and helicopters were bringing people to dry land.

Almost 2 million people have been asked to evacuate the affected areas.

Though continuous rain had ended, officials warned against sudden showers and thunderstorms, as well as the risk of further landslides on steep mountainsides saturated over the weekend.

Such warnings are issued in anticipation of the sort of extreme conditions that occur just once or twice in 50 years, Kyodo News reported.

Houses are partly submerged in water after heavy rainfall hammered southern Japan.

Other major companies such as agricultural equipment manufacturer Kubota and electronic giant Panasonic have also shuttered some operations in the affected region.

Dozens of people have been killed by severe flooding and landslides after heavy rain continued to besiege central and western Japan on Sunday. A nine-year-old boy was among the dead and 78 people were missing, NHK said. Eiko Yamane, a resident of Hiroshima, explained to TIME, “Hiroshima prefecture is normally blessed with mild weather and has few natural disasters so people here have never experienced a situation like this”.

They were rescued hours later, and returned to the town on Monday, where Ogawa found his telephone, filled with calls from concerned relatives and friends. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said “the rescue efforts are a race against time”, as emergency workers hurry to rescue individuals waiting on the roofs of their homes in flooded villages, the Guardian reported. Evacuation orders and advisories had been issued to about 1.74 million households containing 3.86 million people in 17 prefectures as of 5 a.m. Monday.

Many people are believed to be cut off due to flooded roads. “Some people have been isolated, calling for rescue”.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference that Abe will ensure that the government is taking all “possible measures, including rescuing people and reconstruction support”.

“We can not take baths, the toilet doesn’t work and our food stockpile is running low”, said Yumeko Matsui, whose home in the city of Mihara, in Hiroshima prefecture, has been without water since Saturday. Critical infrastructure has been hit, including railway tracks.