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700,000 instructed to evacuate as heavy rain continues to storm SW Japan

Xinhua, June 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

Torrential rain triggered by a seasonal rain front continued to storm southwestern Japan Thursday, causing multiple land collapses and mudslides in the quake-hit region, with some 703,000 residents instructed to evacuate.

About 48 collapses and 11 mudslides occurred by Thursday morning in the Kyushu region which had been wrecked by powerful earthquakes in April, according to local reports. In the city of Fukuyama, Hiroshima prefecture, rivers burst banks in several places as record rainfall hit the area, flooding roads and houses.

Some 703,000 residents in five prefectures of Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto and Oita have been advised to evacuate to safer places, according to the government.

No new death was registered Thursday, though at least seven have been reported dead and one missing earlier since heavy rain swelled waterways and triggered mudslides from Monday evening.

The Japan Meteorological Agency warned of risks of more mudslides as torrential rain was expected over a wider area spanning western Japan between Friday and Saturday. Endit