[Anchor]

Thousands of flooded vehicles are still left abandoned on roads in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, which was battered by record-breaking torrential downpours last week. This is blocking traffic and increasing the risk of secondary accidents such as rear-end collisions.

Correspondent Mun Junmo reports from the scene.

[Reporter]

A woman drives toward an acquaintance's home after leaving her flood-damaged house.

She stays on an urgent phone call to update them on the situation.

[Driver : I think it should be fine once we pass through here.]

However, the water deepens in an instant.

[Driver : Ah, this isn't working.]

[Acquaintance : Turn around, turn around. You can't go any further.]

She tries to turn the car around, but gets stuck, blocked by a white object floating in the water.

It turns out to be a guardrail.

She barely manages to escape, but has to leave her car behind.

Many vehicles have suffered similar damage while driving during the sudden downpour.

[Watch out, we're going to hit it. It's completely submerged.]

Cars are completely submerged under water, with only their hazard lights flashing.

Among the 13 people who died in the heavy rain, at least four lost their lives because they were unable to get out of their vehicles.

Five days later, 2,500 vehicles are left abandoned on roads in Chiba City alone, where three months' worth of rain poured down in just 12 hours.

As you can see here, several flood-damaged vehicles are blocking a lane of the roadway, leaving only a note saying they are waiting for a tow truck, while over here, a car is left abandoned right on the sidewalk.

Car owners are also feeling anxious.

[Affected Car Owner : The towing company says it will take over a week. I can't even push the car away myself.]

This vehicle left standing on a crosswalk with its windows open gives a glimpse of how urgent the situation was at the time.

Secondary accidents involving drivers failing to spot abandoned flood-damaged vehicles and crashing into them are occurring continuously.

Because there are so many damaged vehicles and it is the holiday season, the number of available tow trucks is severely lacking.

[Towing Company Official : With a shortage of both personnel and vehicles, it's not easy to clear them all at once. It's so overwhelming, I wonder when this will ever end.]

Chiba City officials stated that they are taking preventive measures against rear-end collisions, such as moving the vehicles to the shoulders as much as possible and attaching fluorescent tape to the backs of the cars.

(Video reporting: Han Chul-min, Moon Hyun-jin | Video editing: Kim Byung-jik)