Record rain in south Japan brings flood chaos, kills at least two

(Reuters News, 28 Aug 2019) More than twice the usual rainfall for the whole of August has fallen over parts of the southern island of Kyushu in the past 48 hours.

Torrential rain triggered floods and landslides in Japan on Wednesday, killing at least two people and prompting authorities to order more than 900,000 people to leave their homes while another million were advised to move to safety.

More than twice the usual rainfall for the whole of August has fallen over parts of the southern island of Kyushu over the past 48 hours, washing away roads, causing rivers to burst their banks and forcing the suspension of train services.

One man was killed when his car was swept away in Saga prefecture, while another man in Fukuoka prefecture died after being dragged away by flood waters when he got out of his stalled car, NHK national broadcaster said.

A woman in Saga was found without signs of life - a term Japanese authorities use to describe people yet to be officially confirmed as dead - in her car after it fell into a waterway.

"I woke up and the water was ankle-deep in my house, which has never happened before," one man in an evacuation centre told NHK.

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Reuters News, 28 Aug 2019: Record rain in south Japan brings flood chaos, kills at least two