Torrential rain continues storming SW Japan, leaving 6 dead

Six people in the quake-hit Kumamoto Prefecture in southwestern Japan were dead as torrential rain continued storming the region since late Monday, said local authorities on Tuesday, with weather agency warning of the risk on landslides and swollen rivers in the following days.

Record rainfall were registered in areas from Kumamoto and neighboring Miyazaki Prefecture. About 550 buildings in the region were affected by the heavy rain, according to local reports.

Local authorities in Kumamoto also instructed some 4,400 residents in the Minamiaso village, which was devastated in a powerful quake in April, to evacuate to safer places.

Some 34,000 residents in the Mashiki town, the location of the epicenter of the 7.3-magnitude quake, were received evacuation advisories. Enditem