Rain complicates rescue work after mudslide in Japan | Abroad

On Sunday morning, according to the NHK broadcaster, at least twenty people are still missing. Two women were killed in the mudslide on Saturday. Ten houses in the coastal town of Atami have been destroyed and about 300 have been damaged. Emergency services were able to rescue ten more people from their homes who were trapped by the natural disaster.

Due to the heavy rain, there are warnings for more landslides, also elsewhere in the country. In the 48 hours to midnight Saturday, 313 millimeters of rain fell in Atami. That is much more than the monthly average of 242.5 millimeters for all of July.

The dead were found in the port of the city of Atami. The authorities believe the bodies were carried away by the mudslide.

Television images showed the current sweeping away some buildings and burying others in Atami. People and emergency services can also be seen running away as the mudslide came down a hillside road.

“The condition of 19 people is unknown,” a Shizuoka Prefecture official in charge of disaster relief after the landslide said. The local government has requested military assistance for the rescue mission.

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Most of Japan is currently in the rainy season, which often causes flooding and landslides, forcing people to flee their homes.

The high-speed Shinkansen train service between Tokyo and Osaka was temporarily suspended due to the heavy rain, while other local trains in the affected areas were also shut down, according to the railway companies’ websites.

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