Heavy rain triggers evacuation orders, advisories for over 420,000 in Kyushu

Evacuation orders and advisories have been issued for some 423,000 people in four prefectures including Fukuoka and Nagasaki as heavy rain has pounded the area.

By noon on June 22, evacuation orders had been issued for 80,667 people in 35,224 homes in the Fukuoka Prefecture city of Kurume. Evacuation advisories had also been issued for a total of around 13,400 people in some 5,100 homes in the Fukuoka cities of Ukiha and Miyama, around 257,960 people in 108,362 homes in four municipalities in Nagasaki Prefecture, 60,527 people in 19,602 homes in four cities of Saga Prefecture, and 10,578 people in 4,139 homes in Hita, Oita Prefecture.

The advisories come on top of evacuation advisories for Kumamoto Prefecture, which were issued as record-breaking rain began falling in the area on June 21.

According to Fukuoka Prefectural Police, the family of an 86-year-old man in Kurume called police at around 7:20 a.m. on June 22, saying that he had left about two hours earlier to check on some rice paddies but had not returned. An irrigation waterway runs near the paddies, and the man's cane and umbrella were found there. The man is thought to have been washed into the waterway after the water level rose, and rescuers are searching the area.

The Fukuoka Regional Headquarters of the Japan Meteorological Agency says it recorded over 120 millimeters of rain in the city of Nagasaki in the hour before 6 a.m., prompting it to warn of record levels of short-term heavy rainfall. Heavy rainfall was also seen in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, where 67.5 millimeters of rain was recorded in one hour. The Fukuoka Regional Headquarters says the rain is easing in some areas, but is calling for continued vigilance through the morning of June 23.

According to West Nippon Expressway Co., heavy rain forced the closure of the Kyushu Expressway between the Yame and Ueki interchanges at about 8:40 a.m. on June 22. The Nishi-Kyushu Expressway was also closed between the Takeo-Minami and Sasebo-Chuo interchanges.

Kyushu Railway Co. says that operations have been partially suspended on the Sasebo Line and the Omura Line in Nagasaki Prefecture, as well as on the Chikuhi Line in Saga Prefecture. Elsewhere, train lines in Fukuoka and Kumamoto prefectures and other parts of Kyushu were run at slow speeds or had their operations suspended.