At least eight people have died in Japan after record-breaking rain set off flooding across a large region to the east of Tokyo, Japan’s public broadcaster said on Friday.
An intense storm pummeled the region, Chiba Prefecture, between Thursday and Friday, with nearly 350 millimeters of rainwater, about 13.7 inches, falling in just 12 hours on the regional capital, also called Chiba, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. That was about three times the average total for the entire month of August, the prefecture’s governor said in a news conference on Friday, and the highest amount to fall on the area in 12 hours since observations began in 1976.
The meteorological agency had earlier issued a level-five emergency warning for heavy rain across 22 municipalities in Chiba Prefecture from Thursday night to early Friday morning, warning residents of “unprecedented heavy rainfall” and urging them to take immediate safety measures.
It was the first time that a level-five warning, the highest alert level, had been issued since the nation’s weather system was revised earlier this year for increased clarity. While the warnings were downgraded by Friday afternoon, the rainfall — which also caused mass power outages and widespread transportation disruptions — was expected to continue.
Japan’s public broadcaster, NHK, citing the Chiba police, said that in addition to the eight deaths many thousands had been left stranded as they tried to navigate the transportation turmoil.
Across the region there were scenes of chaos, with cars and buses submerged and water flooding into train stations and shopping centers. Footage from social media showed people in Chiba wading through waist-high water.
At Soga railway station in Chiba city, members of Japan’s military, the Self-Defense Forces, were dispatched early on Friday morning to provide transportation for about 4,000 people stranded around the station overnight.
Thousands were also left stranded at Narita International Airport in Chiba on Thursday night after train services to and from the airport were suspended. While flights operated as usual, train services remained disrupted through Friday.
According to Tokyo Electric Power Company, almost 20,000 homes in Chiba were still without power as of Friday afternoon.
The heavy rain came days after the severe tropical storm Chan-hom made landfall in the prefecture directly north of Chiba, adding to what has already been a summer of heightened storm activity and brutal heat.
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