BREAKING: Japan’s Rainstorm Strikes Hard
What Went Down
On Friday morning, the western and central parts of Japan were drenched in a rainstorm that felt less like a gentle shower and more like a bucket being dumped on the city streets. The levels reached the equivalent of two million millimeters of water for a normal July in some spots on Honshu alone.
Last‑Minute Chaos
- Two people lost their lives: one pulled by a drained pipe, another knocked down by a gust of wind.
- Missing: a milk‑delivery driver whose car vanished in the river full of floodwater, and a middle‑school student swept into a ditch flooded with the same torrent.
- Harsh injuries: 50 people hurt in total, four receiving serious cuts, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.
- Land slide: an afternoon burst buried dozens, with rescue squads digging them out stubbornly.
Mass Evacuations & Travel Jams
Government orders forced 168,000 residents to vacate houses outright and issued stay‑away advisories for about 1.2 million more, including folks in the historic city of Kyoto.
Bridge closures and riverbank walkways were pulled shut. Even the Shinkansen bullet‑train line took a break, choking the rails out of boredom – or water, rather.
Japan’s Self‑Defense Forces trailed behind Kyoto with 180 soldiers and 50 vehicles for a rescue push, juggling a train schedule that’s been interrupted.
Why the Rain Was a Bad Performance
Folks call it a “historic” downpour because the storm was a cocktail of warm, humid Pacific air, the too‑busy seasonal rain front, and a fading typhoon that lingered from the earlier week. It gave Shikoku’s smallest main island a 4‑inch single‑hour spell and another 36 inches over two days.
Still More to Come
Forecasters warn of another 400‑mm surge in the next day for all of Japan, and the deluge is scheduled to keep pounding until Sunday.
Meanwhile, in the deep Pacific, Typhoon Maria is sharpening its claws and could evolve into a Category 4 beast, eye on Okinawa’s southwestern islands early next week.
So, grab a poncho, check it at the bridge, and if you’re in Kyoto, maybe stay off the walkway – it’s a cat‑fish’s playground out there. Hamers, strangers, and hell‑of‑the‑weather interest, we’re all in this together, folks.
