SHIZUOKA - A landslide on Mount Fuji buried three vehicles as torrential rain battered wide areas of Japan on September 9, while Nagoya continued to assess extensive flooding damage a day after the city recorded its heaviest hourly rainfall on record.
Heavy rain intensified across the Kanto region during the evening of September 9. In Tokyo's Akasaka district shortly before 10 p.m., large raindrops and strong winds lashed the area, with water visibly rippling across the ground.
Around an hour earlier outside JR Tachikawa Station in western Tokyo, heavy rain had turned much of the ground into what appeared to be a large pool of water.
Maebashi in Gunma Prefecture also experienced a sudden intensification of rainfall around 7 p.m., with rain pounding the ground as unsettled weather continued across the region.
Repeated rainfall since the beginning of the week has also triggered landslides in several areas.
At around midnight on September 9, a worker discovered that earth and debris had collapsed onto the parking lot at Mount Fuji's Fujinomiya Trail fifth station, burying three vehicles.
A mountain hut employee who inspected the site said torrential rain had continued from around 8 p.m. the previous evening and winds may have exceeded 10 meters per second. "It was quite a severe storm. This was the roughest weather we have had this year," the employee said.
There were no drivers or climbers in the immediate area at the time, and no injuries were reported.
In Kiso, Nagano Prefecture, rainfall became intense enough to severely reduce visibility, with 44.5 millimeters recorded in one hour. A Level 4 landslide danger warning was temporarily issued for southern Nagano Prefecture.
An active autumn rain front and a low-pressure system destabilized atmospheric conditions across a broad area, including Kanto-Koshin, Kansai and Tokai, producing localized heavy rain.
In Gero, Gifu Prefecture, muddy brown water surged through waterways at high speed. Kanayama in Gero recorded 45.5 millimeters of rain in one hour, prompting a temporary Level 4 landslide danger warning for the Hida region.
Authorities also issued a Level 4 flood danger warning for the Hida River at 3:40 p.m. because of the risk of flooding.
The river, where the riverbed is normally visible because of low water levels, had become a raging muddy torrent by September 9, with water rising close to the edge of the riverbank.
Heavy wind-driven rain also continued in Seki, Gifu Prefecture, where water gushed from roadside drains and flooded surrounding streets.
Nagoya, meanwhile, was hit by further intense rain on September 9 after experiencing record-breaking downpours the previous day.
The city recorded 104.5 millimeters of rain in one hour on September 8, the highest hourly rainfall ever observed there.
The Ueda River overflowed to the point that the boundary between the river and nearby roads became difficult to distinguish, while cars floating in the floodwater were swept away.
Although water levels had receded by the following day, vehicles carried onto sidewalks remained stranded.
Around 200 vehicles in Nagoya alone were reported to have suffered flooding or related damage.
One nearby resident said the water rose almost immediately after the rain began. "Once it started raining, the water overflowed all at once. I was scared and got away immediately. I have never seen it rise this quickly before," the resident said.
Along the Ueda River in Nagoya's Meito Ward, part of the riverbank slope collapsed over a stretch of several dozen meters because of the September 8 downpour.
Businesses inundated by floodwater spent September 9 cleaning up the damage.
The manager of a restaurant said water had risen deep inside the premises and apparently damaged several refrigerators. "The water came up to here. It looks like several refrigerators are broken. We moved everything into the freezers and refrigerators that were still working, but some things were ruined," the manager said.
Severe weather also affected a wide area of the Kinki region.
In Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture, the entire city appeared unusually dark even during the daytime as large raindrops poured down. Roads quickly flooded, and vehicles sent up large sprays of water as they passed through inundated areas while traffic was being directed.
Localized heavy rain is expected again during the afternoon of September 10 on the Pacific side of western Japan and in the Tokai region.
Many locations in Kanto exceeded 30 degrees Celsius on September 9, but Tokyo's forecast high for September 10 is just 23 degrees, raising concerns over the sharp change in temperature.
Source: SBSnews6
