Heavy rains in southwestern Japan washed away homes, flooded hospitals, disrupted cell phone service and cut power and water to hundreds of homes, officials said Tuesday.
Unusually high rainfall in Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost main island, killed at least six people and left three missing on Monday, Japanese government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno said at a news conference.
Another official, Satoshi Sugimoto, the Japan Meteorological Agency’s top forecaster, called it “the heaviest rain ever experienced” in northern Kyushu on Monday.
Among the dead was a woman whose home was swept away by a landslide on Monday, NHK, Japan’s public broadcaster, said. Another victim was a man who was trapped in his pick-up truck in a flooded area.
In recent years, rain in Kyushu has claimed hundreds of lives, in part because the mountainous terrain is prone to landslides. Flooding in Japan in July three years ago killed at least 86 people, mostly in Kyushu, and prompted authorities to issue evacuation orders for millions of residents.
On Monday morning, the Meteorological Department issued emergency warnings for “special heavy rainfall” in parts of Kyushu. Later that day, the agency lowered the warnings. Local officials urged residents of the region to get to safety. The rain had stopped by Tuesday, but officials warned residents to stay alert for landslides and flooding.
“I would ask people to pay attention to the weather information from municipalities,” Matsuno told reporters. “Please do not approach dangerous areas.”
Yoshiyuki Toyoguchi, a land ministry official, said at a news conference Monday that the rain was so heavy that some of the region’s dams could overflow with another downpour.
The meteorological bureau also warned residents across Japan that downpours on Wednesday and Thursday would bring strong winds and lightning.
Elsewhere in the world, unusually heavy rains have hit India and parts of the United States, raising fears that climate change is causing an escalation in extreme weather events. Studies have shown that warmer weather increases the likelihood of stronger storms.
In India, the current monsoon season has brought more than 10 times the average rainfall for this time of year in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh. Heavy rains washed away bridges and buildings over the weekend, killing 23 people.
Flash flooding also hit upstate New York on Sunday, flooding roads and killing at least one person. Vermont’s river valleys and mountain towns were also battered by rain on Monday.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul called the extreme weather conditions persisting in her state “our new normal.” President Biden declared a state of emergency in Vermont early Tuesday.