In Japan, nearly 200,000 residents called to evacuate following heavy rains

Nearly 200,000 residents of a city in western Japan were called to evacuate on Saturday, November 2, by the authorities, who fear landslides and flooding due to heavy rains after the passage of a typhoon .

The city of Matsuyama, in the department of Ehime, “issued a higher level alert, asking 189,552 residents in its ten neighborhoods to evacuate and take shelter immediately”a city official told Agence France-Presse. Evacuations are not obligatory.

According to the Japan Meteorological Agency, “hot, humid air (…) causes heavy rain accompanied by thunderstorms in western Japan »partly because of Kong-rey, a powerful typhoon which hit Taiwan on Thursday, before being downgraded to a depression. The agency warned of possible landslides and flooding in western Japan on Saturday and in the east on Sunday.

Three dead and nearly 700 injured

Due to rain, Shinkansen bullet train traffic was briefly suspended between Tokyo and the Fukuoka region in southern Japan in the morning.

Typhoon Kong-rey caused the death of three people in Taiwan and left 690 injured, according to a latest report released on Saturday by the National Fire Agency. Nearly 28,000 inhabitants of the island were still without electricity on Saturday on the island after cuts affecting nearly a million inhabitants at their peak.

Scientists say human-induced climate change intensifies the risks posed by heavy rains because a warmer atmosphere holds more water.

In September, a river on the Noto Peninsula in central Japan overflowed, swollen by exceptional rains, turning into a muddy torrent flooding roads and an isolated hamlet, killing around 15 people.