Record-Breaking Downpour Hits Chiba, Japan... 8 Dead

[Anchor]

Record-breaking torrential rain pounded Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo, Japan, from yesterday afternoon through early this morning. Eight people have died, and widespread blackouts occurred. Meanwhile, some 7,000 stranded travelers spent the night at Narita International Airport.

Reporter Kim Minpyo has the details.

[Reporter]

Rainwater rushes down roads like a river.

People try to push a flooded car from behind, but it refuses to budge.

["It's impossible, impossible."]

Water pours into a stalled bus.

Water pillars shoot out from manholes, and waterfalls cascade into subway station concourses.

[Office Worker: "I can't risk driving back, so I'm just going to wait it out at the office."]

Record-breaking torrential rain battered Chiba Prefecture starting yesterday afternoon, prompting the highest-level heavy rain special warnings to be issued for more than 20 local municipalities within the prefecture.

The city of Chiba recorded 348 mm of rainfall over a 12-hour period until early this morning, marking the highest figure since records began.

An amount equivalent to about three times the average total precipitation for the entire month of August poured down all at once.

Regions where hourly rainfall exceeded 100 mm also appeared in succession.

Evacuation orders were temporarily issued for 400,000 people, and approximately 45,000 households suffered power outages.

Casualties followed, with a total of eight people confirmed dead.

In Kashiwa, one of two women trapped inside a car as roads flooded died, while in Ichikawa, a man in his 60s was found unconscious on a flooded road and transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Train and bus services experienced major disruptions, and about 7,000 people spent the night at Narita International Airport.

At the Chiba Prefectural Government office, 1,800 citizens stranded during their evening commutes also spent the night.

The Japan Self-Defense Forces deployed large buses to transport 4,000 people stranded in subways to evacuation shelters.

The Japan Meteorological Agency warned that some areas remain at risk of additional heavy rainfall and urged residents to prepare for potential landslides and low-lying area flooding.

(Camera Footage by Moon Hyun-jin | Video Editing by Kim Byung-jik | Design by Park Hye-jin)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.