AERIAL VIEWS OF FLOODED AREA; PEOPLE REMOVING PROPERTY FROM FLOODED HOUSES; RELIEF WORKERS; BOAT ALONG STREET; REFUGEES RECEIVING FOOD; MAN RESCUING LIVESTOCK.




Initials WW/VS/AS/MJB



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: MORE THAN FIFTY PEOPLE HAVE BEEN REPORTED KILLED, AND SIX ARE MISSING, FOLLOWING AN UNPRECEDENTED CLOUDBURST THAT HIT THE WESTERN JAPANESE ISLAND OF KYUSHU OVER THE WEEKEND, AND WHICH ALSO DID MUCH DAMAGE TO PROPERTY.

THE STORM LASTED FROM SATURDAY EVENING UNTIL MONDAY MORNING, BUT THREAT OF MORE DAMAGE IS NOT OVER. RAIN CONTINUES TO LASH KYUSHU ISLAND, AND FLOOD WARNINGS ARE STILL OUT IN THREE PREFECTURES THERE.

THE LANDSLIDES THAT FOLLOWED THE STORM DESTROYED 120 HOUSES, WHILE SWOLLEN RIVERS SEVERELY DAMAGED 76 AND WASHED AWAY THREE. MORE THAN 20,000 OTHER HOUSES WERE FLOODED.

MANY ROADS WERE DAMAGED AND RAILWAY SERVICES HAVE BEEN DISRUPTED. MORE THAN 30 BRIDGES WERE WASHED AWAY.

THE RAINFALL RECORDED IN KYUSHU FROM SATURDAY EVENING TO MONDAY EVENING PRODUCED ASTONISHING TOTALS: EBINO HAD 647 MILLIMETRES (ABOUT 25 INCHES); MIYAKONOJYO 370 MILLIMETRES (ABOUT 14 INCHES); AND KAGOSHIMA 340 MILLIMETRES (ABOUT 13 INCHES). KUMAMOTO AND NAGASAKI ALSO HAD RAINFALLS IN EXCESS OF 200 MILLIMETRES (EIGHT INCHES).