[Anchor]

Torrential rain pounded Chiba Prefecture in Japan from yesterday evening (the 13th) until early this morning, leaving five people dead and causing widespread power outages. Damage mounted as approximately 7,000 people were forced to spend the night at Narita International Airport.

Correspondent Mun Junmo reports from Tokyo.

[Reporter]

Rainwater rushes down roads like a river.

People try pushing a stranded car from behind, but it refuses to budge.

[Local Resident: "It's no use, it's no use."]

Water pours into a stopped bus.

Water columns shoot up from manholes, and water cascades down like a waterfall into a subway station.

[Office Worker: "I couldn't risk driving back, so I thought I'd just wait it out at the office."]

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

Chiba City recorded 348 mm of rainfall over a 12-hour period until early this morning, reaching triple the average precipitation for the entire month of August in the past.

Areas recording hourly precipitation exceeding 100 mm also popped up one after another.

At one point, over 40,000 households suffered power outages, and homes were flooded consecutively.

Casualties were also reported.

In Kashiwa, out of two people trapped inside a vehicle by rapidly rising water, one woman died, while in Ichikawa, a man in his 60s was found unconscious on a flooded road and taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, bringing the total death toll to five.

With train and bus operations disrupted, about 7,000 people had to spend 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 Meteorological Agency warned that fierce downpours could continue in some regions into the afternoon, urging vigilance against potential landslides, overflowing rivers, and flooding in low-lying areas.

(Camera Reporter: Moon Hyun-jin, Video Editor: Kim Byung-jik, Design: Park Hye-jin)