ANAMIZU, Japan, Sept 22, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Heavy rain lashed central Japan
on Sunday, with floods and landslides leaving one dead and at least six
missing in an area already devastated by a major earthquake earlier this
year.

Muddy rivers ran high in Anamizu, a city on the Noto Peninsula, where damage
from the January quake that killed at least 318 people is still visible, AFP
reporters said.

Authorities on Saturday had urged tens of thousands to evacuate, calling the
rains "unprecedented" as the weather agency issued an emergency warning for
the area that remained in place on Sunday.

Landslides blocked roads and widespread flooding affected homes -- including
eight temporary housing complexes in Wajima and Suzu where victims of the
magnitude-7.5 earthquake on January 1 are residing.

Military personnel have been sent to the Ishikawa region on the Sea of Japan
coast to join rescue workers, top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told
reporters on Saturday.

Some 6,000 households were without power and an unknown number were without
running water, the Ishikawa regional government said.

In Anamizu, more rain fell Sunday onto quake-damaged houses and the shattered
stone columns of a shrine still lying on the ground months after they were
toppled.

A message blared from the city's loudspeaker disaster prevention system
warning residents that the rain could flood the sewer system and dirty water
could rise up.

Hideaki Sato, 74, stood on a bridge holding a small blue umbrella, anxiously
looking at the swollen water of a small canal.

"My house was flattened completely in the quake," he told AFP.

"I now live in a small apartment room right there," he said, pointing at a
wooden structure behind him. "If this floods, it would be a real problem."

- 'Secure your safety' -

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has instructed the government "to do its best in
disaster management, with saving people's lives as the first priority",
according to Hayashi.

Scientists say human-driven climate change is intensifying the risk posed by
heavy rains because a warmer atmosphere holds more water.

The areas under the emergency warning saw "heavy rain of unprecedented
levels", JMA forecaster Satoshi Sugimoto told reporters Saturday, adding "it
is a situation in which you have to secure your safety immediately".

More than 120 millimetres (4.7 inches) of rainfall per hour were recorded in
the city of Wajima on Saturday morning -- the heaviest rain since comparable
data became available in 1929.

Footage on public broadcaster NHK showed an entire street submerged in
Wajima, one of the areas hardest hit by the huge New Year's Day quake, which
toppled buildings, ripped up roads and sparked a major fire.

As of Sunday morning, one person had been killed, three were missing and two
were seriously injured in Ishikawa, the fire and disaster management agency
said.

At least a dozen rivers burst their banks and two of the missing were
reportedly carried away by strong currents.

Another three people were missing who had been working for the land ministry
to restore a road in Wajima, local ministry official Yoshiyuki Tokuhashi told
AFP.

One worker who had been reported missing "walked to the tunnel" near the
landslide where 26 others were taking shelter, Tokuhashi said, adding that
all 27 workers had now been evacuated to safety.

"Rescue work was planned to start at 5 am this morning, then it was suspended
due to heavy rain, but is scheduled to resume at around 11 am," he said.

Municipalities in Ishikawa told 75,000 residents in the region -- including
in the cities of Wajima and Suzu, as well as Noto town -- to evacuate,
officials said.

Another 16,800 residents in Niigata and Yamagata prefectures north of
Ishikawa were also told to evacuate, the fire and disaster management agency
said.