Industry News
According to a Japanese government spokesman, at least 100 people are dead after record rainfall caused intense flooding and landslides in Japan.
Many buildings have collapsed due to the flooding and large areas have been buried in debris and mud.
Dozens are currently missing as of this report.
2 million people have been ordered to evacuate due to rivers that have overcome their banks.
23″ of rain fell between Friday morning and Saturday morning in the town of Motoyama on Shikoku siland.
“We’ve never experienced this kind of rain before.” Japanese weather official told the BBC
This is Japan’s worst weather catastrophe since the deadly Tsunami in 2011 that killed over 15,000 people.
Western Japan has been getting inundated with heavy rain since Thursday. Some regions seeing up to 3 times the usual rainfall for the entire month of July.
Rescuers are frantically searching through mud for survivors and bodies after Monday morning’s flooding.
A typhoon kicked off the heavy rain last week and was followed by multiple days of record-breaking rain.
Most of the deaths due to these floods have occurred in Kumano in the Hiroshima prefecture.
The Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had cancelled a scheduled trip to Belgium, France, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt to help manage rescue efforts.
Shinzo has deployed over 70,000 personnel to assist in the response to these floods.
Flood warnings are still in place for some of the hardest hit areas including Okayama prefecture.
More rainy weather is forecast in the next few days which will further complicate rescue efforts.
