First there is torrential rain, then a massive mudslide breaks over the city of Atami. Thousands of households are called upon to get to safety.
A huge mudslide as a result of torrential rains has torn several houses in Japan with it. The fate of around 20 people was initially uncertain, as reported by Japanese media from the coastal town of Atami in Shizuoka Prefecture, southwest of Tokyo.
Two victims of the accident were found with “cardiac and respiratory arrest,” it said. This is a common phrase in Japan before human deaths are officially confirmed. Rescue workers were meanwhile looking for more missing people.
Atami’s streets are covered with a thick layer of mud and debris.
(Photo: Handout / AFP)
The authorities issued the highest warning level and called on around 25,000 households to get to safety. The military was asked for assistance. The government set up a crisis team.
Japanese television showed how in Atami, a place famous for its hot baths, a massive wave of black mud suddenly breaks from a hill through several houses, sweeping everything with it. In other places along the Pacific coast, residents have also been warned of swelling rivers, flooding and possible landslides.
The heavy rainfall also led to interruptions in rail traffic. Shinkansen bullet train operations between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka were briefly suspended.
A river in the region has grown into a torrent due to the massive rainfall.
(Photo: @ FUSAPOOH / FUSAPOOH via REUTERS)
In the course of global warming, Japan is recording more and more heavy rainfall, which also leads to more and more landslides. In the past ten years, according to official information, an average of almost 1,500 landslides have occurred in the mountainous island nation – that is almost twice as many as in the previous ten years.