One dead, thousands urged to evacuate as rain pounds Japan
Agence France-Presse
First Posted 09:32:00 08/29/2008
TOKYO -- One woman was found dead and an entire city of nearly 400,000 people urged to evacuate Friday as torrential rain hit central Japan, officials said.
Heavy rain since late Thursday has wreaked havoc, flooding houses and roads, triggering landslides and destroying bridges.
"The body of a woman who looks to be in her 70s was found underwater at an inundated house" in the central city of Okazaki, a local police official said.
Reports said the woman was Suzue Kuroyanagi, whose husband had called rescuers, saying water had come up to his chest and his wife was swept away.
Okazaki was the worst hit city, with 146 millimeters (nearly six inches) of rain per hour recorded early Friday.
The city has advised all of its 376,000 residents to evacuate temporarily. Some 50 people have fled their homes, according to Keiji Yamamoto, a disaster prevention official in the city.
Footage of the city from a helicopter showed inundated rice fields and roads with cars half-submerged.
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