Search for survivors under way after at least 112 die in Japan floods

A search operation is under way for survivors in western Japan after torrential rains triggered floods and landslides that killed at least 112 people, with dozens missing.


Rain has eased off across the region battered by last week's downpour, with temperatures expected to be above 30C, fuelling fears of heatstroke in areas cut off from power or water.

"We cannot take baths, the toilet doesn't work and our food stockpile is running low," a nursery school worker said, whose home in the city of Mihara has been without water since Saturday.

"Bottled water and bottled tea are all gone from convenience stores and other shops," she said at an emergency water supply station.

Nearly 13,000 customers had no electricity, power companies said, while hundreds of thousands had no water.

The death toll reached at least 112 after floodwaters forced several million people from their homes, NHK national television said, the highest such figure since 117 people were killed in heavy rains in 1983. Among the dead was a nine-year-old boy.

Another 79 were missing, NHK added.

Though continuous rain had ended, officials warned against sudden showers and thunderstorms, as well as the risk of further landslides on steep mountainsides saturated over the weekend.
 (rte)
 9/7/18
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• At least 37 dead, dozens missing after Japan mudslides