(Tokyo) The torrential rains that fell on Japan left one dead and two missing, officials of the archipelago announced on Saturday, where hundreds of thousands of inhabitants had been called to evacuate on Friday.
Japanese authorities have urged extreme vigilance “in the face of the risk of landslides, floods and flooding rivers” caused by tropical storm Mawar, previously classified as a typhoon.
In the center of the country, a team of rescuers “found a man in his 60s in a submerged car” and his death was later confirmed, a municipal official from Toyohashi, in the department, told AFP. from Aichi.
To the west, in Wakayama prefecture, where several streams have burst their banks, a search is underway for a missing man and woman, officials told AFP.
Evacuation recommendations – along with the maximum alert level – had been issued on Friday, but were downgraded on Saturday as the rainfall waned.
However, new instructions were sent to residents living near Tokyo on Saturday morning due to the risk of flooding.
Some 4,000 homes in departments near the capital are without power, according to the Tokyo electricity network.
High-speed train (shinkansen) traffic was still suspended between Tokyo and Nagoya, according to the JR railway company, but it is expected to resume at midday, public television NHK said.
“Extremely heavy rainfall with thunderstorms is expected over a large part of Japan, from west to east, over the next three days,” government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno said on Friday, saying one person had been seriously injured. injured and seven others more lightly.
Global warming is intensifying the risk of heavy rains in Japan, with warm air masses carrying more steam, scientists say.
Storm Mawar was still classed as a typhoon when it slammed into the US island of Guam in late May, uprooting trees, washing away homes and temporarily knocking out tens of thousands of residents of power.