Officials announced on Saturday that parts of Japan had experienced their greatest day rainfall in recorded history, with reports of more than 100 landslides following a tropical cyclone.
The most rain has fallen in a 24-hour period at Mobara city, Chiba Prefecture, which borders the capital Tokyo, with 392 millimeters, since the Japan Meteorological Agency started keeping track of rainfall in 1976.
The downpour comes at the conclusion of a rainy week for East Asia that saw record-breaking downpours in southern Chinese cities inundate major cities and Typhoon Haikui toppling trees and causing flooding in Taiwan.
Southern Europe has also had deadly rains.
Scientists claim that because a warmer atmosphere contains more water, climate change is increasing the danger of heavy rain globally.
In the Chiba, Ibaraki, and Fukushima regions on Friday, tropical storm Yun-yeung delayed some rail services and left thousands of homes without power.
A city official for Mobara told AFP that “a river near the city hall flooded on Friday and a running car had to be rescued.”
“The water was overflowing to about waist height,” he said, adding that levels had mostly receded by the morning.
He said officials “haven’t been able to grasp the full extent of damage”.
The weather service reported that two additional places received about 280 millimeters of rain in a day.
According to official broadcaster NHK, there were more than 100 landslides in the area as a result of the severe rain.
According to a representative of Chiba Prefecture, the administration used two helicopters on Saturday to survey the damage.
