TOKYO: Due to record-breaking heavy rain, train services were suspended one after another on Thursday (Aug 13), leaving more than 10,000 people unable to return home across Chiba Prefecture.
In Chiba City, 11 locations — including the prefectural government building — served as temporary shelters, and the Self-Defence Forces began providing transportation support on Friday (Aug 14) morning.
According to Narita International Airport Corp., buses and trains bound for central Tokyo were suspended.
As of 4am on Friday, about 7,000 people had spent the night in the passenger terminal at Narita Airport, where sleeping bags, water and food were distributed.
In response to the suspension of public transportation and other disruptions, the Chiba prefectural government opened temporary shelters for travelers unable to return home at the prefectural government building and the nearby Chiba Prefectural Enterprise Bureau building in Chuo Ward, Chiba City at 7pm on Thursday.
The facilities accommodated up to about 1,700 people.
The area around JR Soga Station in the prefecture was submerged up to waist level, and about 4,000 people spent the night in the station building until Friday morning.
In response to a disaster dispatch request from the prefecture, the Self-Defence Forces began transporting people unable to return home by bus to the prefectural cultural hall in Chiba City shortly after 6.30am on Friday. - The Yomiuri Shimbun
