Heavy rainfall began deluging southern Japan on Wednesday, causing a deadly mudslide. More communities will be faced with life-threatening torrential rain totals of 400 mm (16 inches) through Saturday.
All-time rainfall has been inundating southern parts of Japan's Kyushu Island the first few days of July, resulting in flooding and mudslides.
Rainfall from Monday to Wednesday totaled 554.0 mm (21.42 inches) in Nichinan City in Miyazaki Prefecture, shattering the previous all-time three-day record of 457.5 mm (18.01 inches) from Oct. 30, 2017.
On Wednesday alone, several locations in Kagoshima Prefecture registered the most rain ever to pour down in one day. This included Kanoya, where 472.5 mm (18.60 inches) exceeded the previous all-time wettest calendar day of 403 mm (15.87 inches) from Sept. 6, 2005.
Rainfall from Monday to Wednesday at Kanoya totaled 641.5 mm (25.26 inches), shattering the July three-day record of 510 mm (20.08 inches) from July 7, 1993.
Records were also broken in southern Kyushu and south-central Honshu Island for the most amount of rain to fall in an hour during the month of July. A total of 77 mm (3.03 inches) inundated Toshima village on Wednesday morning, breaking the old July one-hour record of 73.5 mm (2.89 inches) from three years ago.
The rain has been responsible for at least one fatality as an elderly woman was found dead in a mudslide in Kagoshima, according to The Associated Press (AP). Another person is missing and possibly buried under the same mudslide.
Flooding and mudslides across southern Japan have damaged nearly 80 homes and left about 1,700 other homes without power. Four people have sustained injuries, the AP reported.
Kagoshima Governor Satoshi Mitazono mobilized the Self-Defense forces to assist with disaster relief, according to the Japan Times.
More than 1 million people were ordered to evacuate southern Kyushu due to the life-threatening flooding rain. This included the entire populations of three cities in Kagoshima Prefecture.
The worst of the flooding has been confined to southern Kyushu as of Wednesday; however, downpours are expanding northeastward, bringing the risk for flooding and mudslides into southern Shikoku and southeastern Honshu through the start of the weekend.
Additional rounds of heavy rain will target areas from southernmost Kyushu to eastern Honshu on Friday and Friday night.
The heaviest rain during this time will be on the southern coast of Shikoku and locations in Honshu from southern Wakayama Prefecture to the Greater Tokyo Area.
A final round of downpours will once again threaten southeastern Honshu on Saturday before the rain ends on Saturday night.
New rainfall totals of 125-250 mm (5-10 inches) are expected through Saturday from southern Wakayama to Chiba prefectures with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 400 mm (16 inches).
Rainfall will generally average 75-150 mm (3-6 inches) around Tokyo with similar totals anticipated for the Ōsumi Islands of Kyushu.
"While the heaviest rain is expected to remain south of the cities of Kagoshima and Miyakonojo through Saturday, additional landslides can be triggered in the neighboring higher terrain with the soil extremely overly saturated and unstable," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Kristina Pydynowski. "Ongoing river flooding can further threaten lives and property."
This may not be the end of flooding problems for Japan as moisture from once-Tropical Storm Mun may be pulled across the country around the middle of next week, bringing another round of heavy rainfall.
Download the free AccuWeather app to remain alert of flood dangers in your community.
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