Seven dead in Japan flooding as search for missing continues in quake-hit Noto peninsula

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

The death toll from record levels of rainfall that hit the northern part of Japan’s Noto peninsula has risen to seven, authorities said on Monday.

Deadly flooding and landslides due to torrential rains have left a trail of destruction in Ishikawa prefecture, with authorities confirming one more death on Monday in the city of Wajima. In all, six of those killed were in the city of Wajima and one was in the city of Suzu where a house collapsed.

More than 540mm of rainfall has been recorded in Wajima in just over 72 hours – the heaviest continuous rain since data became available.

The massive rainfall, followed by landslides and flooding, in the Noto peninsula comes as the region makes a fragile recovery from a devastating 7.5-magnitude earthquake on New Year’s Day. The quake destroyed buildings and triggered tsunami waves and a major fire. At least 374 people lost their lives.

The flooding from the recent rainfall has overwhelmed emergency shelters housing victims of the 1 January earthquake, NHK Japan reported.

As of Monday afternoon, 3,700 households in Ishikawa prefecture were still without power, according to the Hokuriku Electric Power Company.

According to Kyodo news agency, over 100 communities have been isolated due to blocked roads after nearly two dozen rivers overflowed.

The search for those missing is ongoing. An unnamed man who was searching for his daughter told Kyodo: “My only wish is for her to be found, even if she is not alive. I want to hug her.”

Yamamoto Yasushi, a police officer from Aichi prefecture, said: “It’s difficult to bring heavy machinery as some roads are cut off or narrowed. We are searching for survivors.”

Some residents living in temporary shelters are now being forced to evacuate again. Nearly all of the 140 temporary houses in central Wajima city were flooded by an overflowing river. These shelters had been built for those impacted by the New Year’s Day disaster.

Akemi Yamashita, a 54-year-old Wajima resident, told The Guardian that when she was driving on Saturday, “within only 30 minutes or so, water gushed into the street and quickly rose to half the height of my car”.

“I was talking to other residents of Wajima yesterday, and they said, ‘It’s so heartbreaking to live in this city.’ I got teary when I heard that,” she said.

A former sushi chef, identified as Miyakoshi by AFP, faces yet another tragedy after record rainfall flooded his temporary home, built following the devastating January earthquake.

The 76-year-old, already grappling with the loss of his wife in a 2007 earthquake, is now preparing for yet another harsh winter. He has salvaged some photos of his late wife and remains resilient, awaiting the city’s recovery.

“I had left pictures of my wife in the destroyed house, but one night, she appeared in my dream,” he said. “She told me to take the pictures with me wherever I go.”

But due to the massive floods, the pictures are all soaked wet. “It’s now September and will soon be October, then the winter will be right here,” Mr Miyakoshi told AFP.

Meanwhile, officials in Ishikawa prefecture are delivering rice and portable toilets to districts in Wajima now that the weather has improved.

In western and southern Japan, over 100,000 people were ordered to evacuate as the government issued its highest-level emergency warnings for heavy rain. By Sunday, the warning was downgraded, and some residents have begun returning home.

Prime minister Fumio Kishida has directed officials to assess the damage and work with local authorities.