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Japan takes stock of damage as flood death toll rises

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Japan took stock on Monday (July 9) of the damage from the country's worst flood disaster since 1983, as the death roll rises.

Rescuers were still digging through mud and rubble racing to find survivors on Monday after torrential rain unleashed floods and landslides across a wide swathe of western Japan, forcing several million people from their homes. Officials said the overall economic impact was not clear, but that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has cancelled an overseas trip to deal with the disaster.


Rain tapered off across the western region on Monday to reveal blue skies and a scorching sun that pushed temperatures well above 30 Celsius (86 Fahrenheit), fuelling fears of heat-stroke in areas cut off from power or water especially as people worked to clear their homes and work places of rubble and mud. Some 11,200 households had no electricity, power companies said on Monday, while hundreds of thousands had no water.

Industry operations have also been hit, with Mazda Motor Corp saying it was forced to close its head office in Hiroshima on Monday and electronics maker Panasonic saying operations at one plant remained suspended after the first floor was flooded. (Reuters)



Choi Won-suk wschoi@koreatimes.co.kr


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