THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
August 12, 2025 at 15:10 JST
Two people were feared dead and four others were missing after heavy rain pounded northern parts of the main island of Kyushu from Aug. 10 to 12, authorities said.
The heavy rain continued on Aug. 12 over wide areas from western to northern Japan.
The Japan Meteorological Agency is urging continued caution against landslides and flooding in low-lying areas.
A series of linear rainbands have formed over northern Kyushu since Aug. 10 due to a stationary front and a low-pressure system, the JMA said.
On Aug. 11, the JMA temporarily issued a special heavy rain warning for seven cities and towns in Kumamoto Prefecture: Tamana, Nagasu, Yatsushiro, Uki, Hikawa, Kami-Amakusa, and Amakusa.
These warnings were later downgraded to regular warnings and advisories. But the JMA continues to urge strict caution because the ground remains unstable in some areas.
According to fire department officials in the Kamimashiki region of Kumamoto Prefecture, a man was found in a state of cardiopulmonary arrest in a warehouse at around 1:30 p.m. on Aug. 11 in Kosa town, where a landslide had occurred.
About nine hours earlier, emergency services received a call from this location, saying, “We are trying to evacuate by car but are being swept away by mud and cannot escape.”
Three people--a mother in her 30s, a 4-year-old girl and a 1-year-old boy--were rescued from the car, but the father in his 50s remained missing.
Authorities were working to confirm if the man found at the warehouse is the father.
In Yatsushiro city, local police received a report at around 1 p.m. on Aug. 11 that a car had fallen into an irrigation canal. An elderly woman found in the vehicle was transported to a hospital in a state of cardiopulmonary arrest.
According to the Kumamoto prefectural government, two men are believed to have been swept away by rivers in Minami Ward and Kita Ward of Kumamoto city.
In Fukutsu, Fukuoka Prefecture, a resident reported that “a man and woman in their 60s had been swept away” near the Saigogawa river at around 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 10.
Local firefighters were searching for the two, but their whereabouts remained unknown.
The heavy rain has affected a wide area across western and northern Japan.
According to Ishikawa prefectural police and fire department officials in Nanao city, authorities received a rescue request at around 4:50 a.m. on Aug. 12. Three cars had been on a road that collapsed near the Nakajima Roman Toge roadside station in the city.
Three people were rescued. None were believed to be in life-threatening conditions.
According to the JMA, the front is expected to remain stationary from the Sea of Japan side to the Tohoku region through Aug. 13. Warm and moist air flowing in coupled with unstable atmospheric conditions will likely cause thunderstorms and heavy rain in some areas.
The JMA also noted the risk of landslides has increased due to the accumulated heavy rain.
(This article was written by Ryo Sasaki, Amane Ogatsu, Yasuhide Kido, Junki Watanabe and Daisuke Hatano.)
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A man is found in a state of cardiopulmonary arrest at the site of a landslide in Kosa, Kumamoto Prefecture, on Aug, 11. (Eiji Zakoda)
