Several people missing in southwestern Japan as heavy rain continues
Several people remain unaccounted for in southwestern Japan on Monday as ongoing heavy rain triggered dangerous landslides, according to local authorities and rescuers, Kyodo reports.
A man who was evacuating with his family went missing after their car was swept away by a landslide in the town of Kosa, Kumamoto Prefecture. Three others in the vehicle were rescued.
There were other reports of landslides washing away houses and cars in the prefecture. A rescue operation is underway in the town of Misato for a resident trapped in a collapsed house.
In the neighboring prefecture of Fukuoka, two people were feared washed away in a river in Fukutsu on Sunday evening, according to local authorities.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told reporters Monday morning his government is "committed to implementing disaster response measures," while urging residents to remain vigilant.
The weather agency has been warning of extreme rainfall in Kumamoto and Nagasaki prefectures as a rainband stretching across the Japanese archipelago has inundated wide areas of the country.
Tamana in Kumamoto recorded 370 millimeters of rainfall in six hours through early Monday, nearly double the city's average precipitation for all of August, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.
JR Kyushu, which serves southwestern Japan, said it is suspending all bullet train services through Monday.
Earlier, it was reported that one person has died and 29 more people have been hurt after a 6.1 magnitude earthquake in western Türkiye, the country’s Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said.
