Rainstorms Sweep Japan

Tokyo, Japan (AHN) – Torrential rain, floods, and mudslides in Japan are being blamed for seven deaths and six missing people. The inclement weather in western Japan has been unforgiving over the past three days.

Rainstorms Sweep Japan

The latest deaths occurred when a home collapsed on a 41-year-old son and is 73-year-old father in Yaotsu, Gifu province. In Matsue, Shimane prefecture, a mother and her 7-year-old son also perished when two boulders fell on their home. The woman’s daughter, age 11, was rescued.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan is slated to visit evacuees in Gifu province on Sunday. That particular region has been the most heavily affected by the recent weather.

In addition to heavy rains and mud flooding farmlands, residents have been displaced by government-ordered evacuations. Japan’s Kyodo news agency said local governments recommended 300,000 people leave their homes

The Japan Meteorological Agency forecasts the weather will remain unstable over much of the country and is warning residents of more potential mudslides and flooding in the hours to come.