Two dead as Japan orders 870,000 to flee heavy rains, warning of ‘catastrophes’
- Almost one million more are told to leave their homes as weather alert is raised to highest level
- A man is found dead in a car swept away by floodwaters while a second dies after trying to escape from a trapped vehicle
Two people were confirmed dead on Wednesday as heavy rains pounded southwest Japan, prompting flood and landslide warnings and orders for 870,000 people to seek safety.
Nearly a million more people were advised to leave their homes after the country’s weather agency raised the alert to its highest level for parts of northern Kyushu.
The emergency warning is issued “if there is a significant likelihood of catastrophes”.
Officials confirmed two deaths, one in western Saga prefecture where a man was found in a car that had been swept away. A second man died in Fukuoka as he tried to escape from a car trapped in rising floodwaters.
Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said a third person, in Saga, was in a state of “cardio-respiratory arrest” – a term usually employed by Japanese officials to indicate a person’s death before it is officially confirmed by a doctor.