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martyb writes:

Heavy Rain Forces Evacuation Order for 1.1 Million People in Southwestern Japan:

Authorities in southwestern Japan have instructed over 1.1 million residents to evacuate Wednesday as torrential rains continued, triggering flooding and mudslides.

Houses and fields were inundated after river dikes washed away in Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures, with Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force dispatching troops to affected areas at the request of Kagoshima Gov. Satoshi Mitazono.

[...] In the city of Kagoshima, where all 590,000 residents were told to evacuate, elderly people and others huddled in shelters to wait out the storm. Some evacuees in the neighboring prefecture's Kumamoto city were seen carrying their bedding to evacuation centers to spend the night.

The Japan Meteorological Agency has warned that heavy rains in southwestern and western Japan could continue for another day.

[...] The heavy rain also disrupted sections of the Kyushu shinkansen bullet train line and forced over 150 schools to cancel classes.

In the 24 hours through 6 a.m. Thursday, the agency forecast up to 350 millimeters [(13.8 inches)] of rain in southern Kyushu, up to 300 mm [(11.8 inches)] in northern Kyushu, and up to 250 mm [(9.8 inches)] in the Shikoku region.

The Kinki region, covering Osaka, was forecast to get 150 mm [(5.9 inches)] of rain, while the Tokai region centered on Nagoya anticipated 120 mm [(4.7 inches)]. The Chugoku region around Hiroshima and the Hokuriku area facing the Sea of Japan were also expected to see heavy rainfall, according to the agency.

It said a rainy front is expected to stay over the Japanese archipelago through Saturday, and could also drench eastern Japan.

Get familiar with the shape and location of Japan and then load earth.nullschool.net's real-time maps of the area. The green circle marks the approximate location of Tokyo. Here is a map showing the most-recent 3-hour precipitation amount (3HPA). This map shows Total Precipitable Water (TPW).

When there is 1-2 inches of rain in my area, it makes for a most unpleasant day. I cannot begin to imagine what it would feel like to receive over a foot of rain in 24 hours... and then to try to evacuate in those conditions, too? Besides that, where do they go? Downhill leads to more flooding. Uphill leads to being on slopes that could be involved in a landslide. A major storm last year in Japan took the lives of over 200 people. Here's hoping this year's increased awareness and evacuation orders help to reduce the number of fatalities.

Also at CNN, BBC, NPR, and Deutsche Welle.

Original Submission