Nations counts its losses after deadly storm dumped 40% of average annual rainfall in some areas

This article is more than 11 months old

This article is more than 11 months old

More than 110,000 rescuers were searching for survivors in Japan in the wake of super-typhoon Hagibis, which has already claimed 40 lives.

The storm, which over the weekend dumped 40% of average annual rainfall on some areas, caused at least 25 rivers across the country to burst their banks, leading to vast tracts of land being flooded. By Monday at least 16 people were still missing and 200 were confirmed injured.

Tens of thousands of personnel from the Self-Defence Forces, Coast Guard, police and fire departments were deployed as emergency crews attempted to rescue some people still trapped on the upper floors of homes and other buildings in the worst affected areas. Teams were also digging through mud and landslides, as well as searching swollen rivers for the missing.

Typhoon Hagibis: at least 25 dead as thousands join rescue effort Read more

A 77-year-old woman died on Sunday morning after rescuers failed to properly attach a safety harness as she was being winched up to a helicopter in Iwaki City, Fukushima. The Tokyo Fire Department, which had dispatched the helicopter, apologised for her death, which occurred after she fell 40 metres into floodwaters.

More than 220 residents and staff at a nursing care home in Saitama, north of Tokyo, were lucky to escape unharmed when they lost power as the facility flooded. Unable to use elevators, staff carried all the residents to higher floors.

“We started evacuating the residents right after seeing bubbles of water popping up from under the floor,” a caregiver told the Nikkei business daily.

Play Video 1:24 Rescue efforts under way after Typhoon Hagibis hits Japan – video report

Rie Hasegawa, a woman in her 30s, said she never imagined her landlocked town would be inundated. “The force of the water was incredible. It was dark, frightening, and I thought this might be the end,” she said.

Nagano Prefecture in central Japan was one of the worst-hit areas. Both the Chikuma and Abukuma rivers burst their banks and floodwaters topped four metres in places, according to the Japan Geospatial Information Authority. A five-kilometre stretch near the Chikuma River was flooded.

Evacuation orders and advisories went out to tens of millions across Japan, but some tried to tough the storm out.

“I made the mistake of figuring that as long as we were on the second floor of the house, we’d be fine,” Kiyokazu Shimokawa, 71, told Reuters at an evacuation centre in Nagano. “When we realised that maybe we should evacuate, it was too late, the water rose very quickly.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis in Nagano prefecture Photograph: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters

Shimokawa, his mother and wife were finally rescued at 3pm on Sunday after being trapped since Saturday evening.

The operators of seven dams across Japan took the unprecedented step of discharging water due to the risk of them overflowing.

“We had a lot of discussions inside the organization, but decided to do it in the end,” said an official in Kanagawa Prefecture, where the Shiroyama Dam, southwest of Tokyo, discharged water at 9.30pm on Saturday. The discharge was brought forward from it scheduled time due to the imminent danger of the dam bursting.

Water was released into rivers already swollen by the record rainfalls and nearby residents were urged to “take actions to protect their lives,” by authorities.

Many residents in Atsugi City, downstream from the dam near where two rivers converge, evacuated to a nearby junior high school.

“After I saw the water level of the Sagami-gawa River on the internet, I felt it was very dangerous. I am also worried about my home because of the strong wind,” a woman in her forties who had evacuated to the school with four family members told the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

Tens of thousands of homes were still without electricity, while thousands more had lost running water. At lunchtime on Monday, rain was still falling across many of the affected areas, bringing the danger of more flooding and landslides.

In Saitama’s Higashi Matsuyama city, northwest of Tokyo, rice and flower farmers were counting their losses, with water submerging warehouses full of freshly harvested produce.

“We never had a flood like this before in this neighbourhood,” said one farmer, who declined to give his name.

“I don’t know where to start cleaning this mess.”