Heavy rain emergency warning issued for South-western Japan

Tokyo, Aug 8 (IANS) Japan's weather agency issued a heavy rain emergency warning on Friday morning for the city of Kirishima in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima, calling for the highest level of caution against landslides and flooding in low-lying areas and overflowing rivers.

The highest-level warning on the country's five-tier disaster alert system, the first of the year, came after Kirishima logged record rainfall, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA).

A part of Kirishima registered 107.5 mm of rain in the hour to 3 a.m. local time on Friday, the heaviest on record at the location. The 12-hour total reached over 480 mm, about 1.8 times the city's August average.

Torrential rain is expected to continue in the Kyushu region, including Kagoshima, through Sunday, the JMA said.

The amount of rain in the 24 hours to Saturday morning is expected to be 200 mm in southern Kyushu, and 120 mm in northern Kyushu, it added.

Weather officials warned people to remain on alert as dangerous conditions may already exist in affected areas, Xinhua news agency reported.

Yesterday, torrential rain continued to lash Japan’s Hokuriku region on the Sea of Japan coast, prompting warnings from JMA of potential landslides, flooding in low-lying areas, and rising river levels, particularly in regions still recovering from a powerful earthquake earlier this year, the local media reported.

Bullet train services on the Hokuriku Shinkansen Line were suspended for over five hours between Nagano and Kanazawa stations, West Japan Railway Co. (JR West) confirmed, after intense rainfall began pounding parts of Ishikawa Prefecture on August 6.

According to the agency, a low-pressure system moving northeast over the Sea of Japan is responsible for the unstable atmospheric conditions. The weather front is forecast to shift southward through Friday and linger over areas spanning eastern to western Japan.

The JMA warned that some regions could experience further heavy rainfall and thunderstorms as warm, moist air continues to flow toward the low-pressure system. Conditions are expected to remain highly unstable across a wide area from northern to western Japan.

Authorities have urged residents to stay alert for evacuation orders and take precautions against possible landslides, flash floods, and infrastructure disruptions in the coming days.

--IANS

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