'Race against time' in Japan floods, 50 feared dead

I checked CNN, BBC, NPR, & ABC reports about the flooding, didn't see any mention of the role of climate change. Some did mention the fact that these are record floods. Typical for these news sources which depend on funding from the fossil fuel industry.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/japan-floods-50-dead-race-against-time-12908450


[CNA is an English-language news channel based in Singapore.]
07 Jul 2020 10:35AM
(Updated: 07 Jul 2020 11:41AM)


YATSUSHIRO, Japan: Emergency services in western Japan were "racing against time" on Tuesday (Jul 7) to rescue people stranded by devastating floods and landslides, with at least 50 feared dead and more torrential rain forecast.

Japan's Meteorological Agency issued its highest emergency warning level for heavy rain and landslides over vast swathes of the southwestern Kyushu island, with downpours expected until Thursday.

The death toll from the heavy rains that started in the early hours of Saturday is expected to climb. An official in the hardest-hit region of Kumamoto told AFP that 49 were now confirmed dead with one other feared dead.

•••••

More than 40,000 personnel, including police and firefighters as well as coast guards and troops, were deployed to rescue people, with around a dozen still unaccounted for.

Rivers overflowing their banks have swept away bridges and turned roads into lakes, making rescue access possible only by raft or helicopter.

Nobuko Murakami, a 78-year-old woman whose house was destroyed by landslides, told local media: "I couldn't sleep as the sound of the rain was deafening. I have lived here for more than 50 years, but I have never seen such heavy rain. I wonder when I can get back home."

•••••

Fourteen of the dead were wheelchair-bound residents of a nursing home unable to escape to higher ground as the waters rose.

A rescue worker who searched the facility told NHK: "The ground floor was filled with water and we couldn't get into it. Some people managed to evacuate to the first floor. I've never experienced anything like this in my life."

Further complicating the evacuation efforts was the fear of spreading the coronavirus.

Compared to many other nations, Japan has been relatively lightly affected by the pandemic, with just under 20,000 cases and fewer than 1,000 deaths.

•••••

Japan is in the middle of its annual rainy season, which frequently unleashes deadly floods and landslides.

Climate change is also playing a role because a warmer atmosphere holds more water, increasing the risk and intensity of flooding from extreme rainfall.

In 2018, more than 200 people died in devastating floods in the same region of Japan.