Hundreds of thousands of residents across the Hokuriku region were subject to evacuation orders on Thursday as torrential rain caused rivers to overflow and houses to be inundated while travelers were rescued out of cars submerged in water.
The weather agency issued the highest-level emergency rain warning for heavy rain in parts of Ishikawa and Toyama prefectures, before downgrading them to Level 3 in the evening.
The Level 5 warning was issued for the city of Hakui and the towns of Shika, Hodatsushimizu and Nakanoto, all in Ishikawa Prefecture, as well as the city of Himi in Toyama Prefecture. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) describes the warning level as indicating a life-threatening situation, urging local residents to immediately ensure their safety.
The Level 3 warnings that remained in place later Thursday urge evacuation for older adults and others who may have trouble doing so.
Additionally, large swaths of the area remained under Level 4 alerts for landslides, under which the JMA calls for evacuations.
“It started raining around 9 p.m. last night, and it was constantly thundering,” said Yui Osaka of Ishiguro Inn in the city of Hakui. “Until around 6 a.m., the rain was unlike anything I had ever seen.
“The river (nearby) is overflowing in places, and the area only 500 meters from us is closed to traffic because of flooding,” Osaka said.
Roads are flooded with rain Thursday morning in Himi, Toyama Prefecture, in this photo provided by a local resident. | JIJI
In Ishikawa, 10 rivers were flooded and a few levees were breached. Footage from NHK showed houses and cars in Ishikawa submerged in water, while roads were severely flooded in Ishikawa and Toyama. There were no reports of fatalities or injuries as of 5 p.m. on Thursday, according to officials from Ishikawa and Toyama prefectures.
So far, there have been at least two cases in which rescuers helped drivers and passengers from cars submerged in water, authorities in Ishikawa Prefecture said. Vehicles unable to restart due to waterlogging became a large problem when torrential rain hit Chiba Prefecture earlier this month. It took days for authorities to tow away cars that had been abandoned on roadsides.
According to the JMA, Hakui and Himi set rainfall records, with each receiving about 350 millimeters of rain in the 24 hours up to 2:30 p.m. Thursday — far above the amount of precipitation either city averaged for the month of August between 1991 and 2020. Hodatsushimizu also saw its highest recorded rainfall over the same 24 hours, and Shika reported that it was getting around 100 millimeters of rain per hour as of early Thursday morning.
Some 270 households were isolated as roads were blocked due to landslides. Construction workers contracted by local authorities were working to restore the roads.
“We are doing everything we can to help those who are isolated, those whose houses have been inundated and evacuees at shelters to go back to their normal lives,” Ishikawa Gov. Yukiyoshi Yamano said in a news conference Thursday afternoon.
Asked what the prefecture can do to prepare for heavy rain that occurs often in the summer, Yamano said, “Because we’re dealing with forces of nature, it’s difficult to prepare effectively.”
Six-hours of rainfall until 6:20 a.m. Thursday produced 211 millimeters of rain in Himi and 210 mm in Hakui, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. | JAPAN METEOROLOGICAL AGENCY
Yamano urged local residents to check hazard maps compiled by local government authorities, and added that the prefecture will do what it can to reinforce roads, public facilities and other infrastructure against disasters.
Hokuriku Electric Power Transmission & Distribution reported that there were over 1,000 households without power as of around 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, around half the number there were in the morning.
The JMA said that the current unstable weather is due to warm air from a front interacting with cold air from a low pressure system over the Hokuriku region through Friday.
Heavy rain is likely to continue. The JMA announced on Thursday afternoon that it expects 200 mm of rainfall in Ishikawa and Toyama prefectures in the 24 hours through noon on Friday. It also predicted another 80 mm of precipitation in the Hokuriku region for the subsequent 24 hours — a figure that, while lower, is still above typical rainfall levels.
Staff writer Kanako Takahara contributed to this report.
