River Flooding In Eastern Japan Leaves Dozens Of Residents Stranded

IBARAKI, JAPAN - SEP. 10: A major river in eastern Japan breached its banks on Thursday following torrential rain, flooding hundreds of home and leaving at least one person missing and dozens still stranded. Police in Ibaraki Prefecture, where an emergency warning was issued Thursday, said a total of 40 people who were stranded after flood waters poured over the Kinugawa River have been rescued so far by helicopter, but that 50 are still waiting to be rescued from the roof of a supermarket. The river's banks were breached in Joso, about 45 kilometers northeast of Tokyo, after the river overflowed dikes at three spots, including Joso and Chikusei, in the morning and hundreds of homes were flooded. The prefectural government requested the Self-Defense Forces to dispatch troops. Evacuation orders were issued for various areas in both Ibaraki and Tochigi prefectures. Residents in eastern Japan are expected to continue facing the risk of landslides and flooding through Friday. In Kanuma, also in Tochigi, early Thursday, a man sustained serious injuries and a woman went missing after a landslide hit a home. The rain also caused a section of a hotel beside the Kinugawa River in the hot spring resort area of Nikko to collapse. The torrential rain followed Typhoon Etau, which crossed the central part of the country to the Sea of Japan on Wednesday before being downgraded to a depression. In Tochigi, around 90,000 people were instructed to evacuate their homes as rainfall reached 600 millimeters in some areas since the downpour began on Monday. In Ibaraki, about 8,200 people in Joso and Chikusei had been instructed to do likewise as of 10 a.m.