(Central News Agency reporter Dai Yazhen's special report in Tokyo on the 7th) Affected by the retention of the autumn rain front and the continuous inflow of a large amount of warm and humid air, Japan's Kanto and Tohoku and other places suffered heavy rainfall today, and the rainfall in Tokyo's Izu Islands was particularly shocking. After issuing the highest alert for Niijima Village in the early morning, the Japan Meteorological Agency raised Oshima Town to the same alert level at noon. An underground tunnel flooding accident occurred in Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture, resulting in the death of a woman.
NHK reported that the Meteorological Agency first issued a "Level 5 Earth-rock Disaster Special Warning" for Niijima Village at 4:15 a.m., and Niijima Village immediately issued an "Emergency Safety Guarantee" instruction for residents in the Earth-rock Disaster Warning Area and nearby areas at 4:30. As developed rain clouds continued to cover the Izu Islands, the Meteorological Agency issued a level 5 special warning for Oshima Town at 12:30 noon.
The Izu Islands received an astonishing amount of rainfall this time. As of 1 p.m. today, Izu Oshima had accumulated 685 millimeters of rainfall in 48 hours, which is equivalent to about twice the local rainfall in the entire month of September in previous years. The 24-hour rainfall at New Island Airport as of 9:40 a.m. also reached 485 millimeters, setting a record since statistics began in 2003.
This is also the third time that Japan has issued a special warning for earth and rock disasters after launching a new version of the disaster prevention meteorological information system in May this year. The first two appeared in the heavy rain in Chiba in August and the heavy rain in Yakushima, Kagoshima Prefecture on the 5th.
In addition to the Izu Islands, some areas in Kanagawa Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, and Miyagi Prefecture also issued a "Level 4 Earth and Rock Disaster Danger Warning", and the authorities called for continued high vigilance.
Heavy rain also caused fatal accidents in Fukushima Prefecture. The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that multiple cars were reported to be trapped in an underground tunnel in Yoneda, Kashima Town, Iwaki City at around 7:45 a.m. After the firefighting unit received the report and rushed to the scene, it was confirmed that a total of two cars were trapped. One of the cars was submerged in water, and rescuers rescued an unconscious woman from the car. She was pronounced dead after being rushed to a city hospital.
Heavy rain also affected Japan's land and air transportation. JR East stated that trains such as the Shonan Shinjuku Line and the limited express train "Azusa" will be suspended from the first train; major routes in the metropolitan area such as the Yamanote Line and Keihin Tohoku Line will reduce their frequency by about 20 to 30%, and are expected to gradually resume normal operations around the evening. The Yamagata Shinkansen section between Fukushima and Shinjo will be suspended all day.
In terms of aviation, All Nippon Airways (ANA) canceled two flights from Haneda Airport to and from Hachijo Island.
Experts warn that the amount of water vapor flowing into the autumn rain front this time is unusually large, and places such as Kanto, the East China Sea, and Northeast China may face record-breaking heavy rains. The Meteorological Agency stated that depending on the movement of fronts and low pressure, heavy rains may continue until around the 10th.
Kazuhisa Tsuboki, a professor at Nagoya University and Yokohama National University who specializes in meteorology, pointed out that since yesterday, a large amount of water vapor has continued to flow into the autumn rain front across western Japan to Tohoku. The scale of the water vapor may be equivalent to or even greater than the "Kanto-Tohoku Heavy Rain" in 2015 that caused major disasters. Therefore, rain clouds in various places may develop rapidly and the risk of disasters may suddenly increase.
