Dantesque floods hit the center of the country

Homes ravaged, region disfigured. Torrential rains hit Ishikawa Prefecture in central Japan, causing flooding and landslides on Saturday, September 21. One person died, and eleven others are missing. In the space of 72 hours, 540 mm of water fell in the city of Wajima, the heaviest continuous rainfall recorded since 1976.

This is the second disaster to hit the Japanese region in 2024. In January, a 7.5-magnitude earthquake killed 318 people. This weekend’s flooding affected homes already damaged by the earthquake. According to authorities, 5,000 homes are without electricity and at least 1,700 no longer have access to running water. Faced with the situation, the army has been called in to secure the region.