THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
October 26, 2019 at 18:00 JST
Nine people were killed and one was reported missing in Chiba Prefecture after heavy rain caused flooding and landslides from Oct. 25.
In Fukushima Prefecture, a woman in her 60s who was found in an overturned car in flooding in Soma was confirmed dead at a hospital. A man believed to be her son was reported missing.
Two people in Iwaki in Fukushima Prefecture were injured when a landslide hit their home.
In Chiba Prefecture, three people died in Chiba city and two each in Chonan and Nagara, while one each died in the municipalities of Mobara and Ichihara, the Chiba prefectural government said.
At least three homes in Midori Ward of Chiba city were buried by landslides on the afternoon of Oct. 25, killing a man and woman in their 60s, according to the prefectural government and prefectural police.
On the morning of Oct. 26, a third body, believed to be a woman in her 40s who was earlier reported missing, was found at the scene.
Fifteen rivers in the prefecture flooded, including one in the town of Nagara, where a man in his 80s was found trapped in his inundated car. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.
The body of another man in his 80s was found by a ditch near where a small truck had stalled in floodwaters in Chonan.
In Mobara, a hospital confirmed the death of a man who was found unconscious by a river bank. A woman in her 50s living in Ichihara was killed by a landslide that struck her residence.
The Chiba prefectural government has asked the Self-Defense Forces to help with the search for the missing.
The heavy rain again wrecked havoc at Narita Airport in the prefecture. Forty-eight flights were canceled on Oct. 25, and about 3,000 people were forced to spend the night at the airport terminal building because train and bus services from the airport had been suspended.
Thousands of people had to spend the night at the same airport in September after Typhoon No. 15 ripped through the area. Parts of Chiba Prefecture were still recovering from damage from that typhoon when the heavy rain landed on Oct. 25.
Other train operations in the prefecture were suspended because of the heavy rain, forcing 877 people stay overnight at public facilities because they had no way of returning home on Oct. 25.
A total of 833 students also spent the night at 31 schools because the bad weather prevented them from returning home.
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A landslide caused by heavy rain buries a home in Midori Ward of Chiba city on Oct. 26. (Satoru Semba)
