A house leaning as a swollen river undermines the ground in Suzu following heavy rain in Noto. — AP
RESCUERS combed the debris-strewn banks of a river in central Japan, searching for drowning victims after homes were swept away in flooding and landslides that claimed at least seven lives.
The river on the Noto Peninsula – an area still reeling from a devastating earthquake in January – overflowed at the weekend, becoming a muddy torrent that inundated roads and a remote hamlet.
After the skies finally cleared, police and firefighters from across Japan were joined by residents and the father of a 14-year-old girl, who was one of at least seven missing people.
The number of deaths reached seven, with one severely injured and 11 mildly injured as of yesterday afternoon, Ishikawa prefecture said on their website.
Kiso searching for his missing 14-year-old daughter among debris washed away from flooding along the Tsukada river in Wajima. — AFP
Rain pounded the region from Saturday, with more than 540mm recorded in the city of Wajima over 72 hours – the heaviest continuous rain since comparative data became available.
The flooding disaster hit the area as it was making a fragile recovery from a magnitude-7.5 quake on New Year’s Day, which toppled buildings, triggered tsunami waves and sparked a huge fire.Floodwaters inundated emergency housing built for those who had lost their homes in the Jan 1 earthquake, which killed at least 374 people, according to the Ishikawa regional government.
Yesterday afternoon, 3,600 households still had no power after the rain, the Hokuriku Electric Power Company said.
More than 100 areas in the region were isolated, with roads blocked due to landslides.
In Wajima, one of the cities worst affected by the recent earthquake, dirty puddles and piles of branches covered the streets. Widespread evacuation orders were in place over the weekend, but several residents returned to clear the mud.
City in suffering: A man looking on as debris washed away from flooding is seen piled by houses along the Tsukada river following heavy rain in Wajima city, Ishikawa prefecture. — AFP
Takaya Kiso, the father of the missing 14-year-old, told TV Asahi and other local media that he hoped she would be found soon, as “I want to hug her”.
His daughter “was asleep so she wasn’t aware of the situation. She woke up because of my phone call. When she looked outside, it was like a sea, with floodwaters covering roads,” he said.
But when Kiso rushed back from work, the house was gone, the reports said.
Akemi Yamashita, a 54-year-old Wajima resident, said she had been driving on Saturday when “within 30 minutes or so, water gushed into the street and quickly rose to half the height of my car”.
“I was talking to other residents yesterday and they said, ‘It’s so heartbreaking to live in this city’. I got teary when I heard that,” she said.
“I can’t help thinking the Noto region might be cursed or something.” — AFP
