Heavy rain in south Japan kills 1, injures 4; thousands evacuated to
escape flooding*

AP - Saturday, July 7

TOKYO - Heavy rain continued to take its toll on southern Japan on
Saturday, with a man drowning in a flooded rice paddy, and four others
injured in flood-related accidents. Thousands had to evacuate their homes.

By midday Saturday, a powerful weather front had dumped over 500
millimeters (20 inches) of rain on southern Japan since Wednesday,
according to the Meteorological Agency.

In Ehime prefecture (state), a 73-year-old man fell into a flooded rice
paddy and was swept into a swollen river where his body was later found,
said prefectural police spokesman Masaru Hosoda.

In the hardest-hit area _ Kumamoto prefecture on the southern main
island of Kyushu _ three men suffered minor injuries after their cars
hit a large pothole caused by a mudslide, a prefectural police official
said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.

On Friday, a woman in her 80s broke her leg when a mudslide hit her
house and washed her down a hill, said prefectural official Satoshi Hirai.

More than 10,000 people in Kumamoto were evacuated to school gymnasiums
and community centers due to flooding, the prefecture said in a statement.

About 130 households in the town of Misato were isolated from the
surrounding area after heavy rains flooded roads and triggered
landslides, prompting prefectural officials to call on the Defense
Ministry to dispatch troops to rescue them.

Media reports said train services in Kumamoto, as well as neighboring
Nagasaki and Kagoshima prefectures, were halted or largely delayed.

The Meteorological Agency warned of further landslides and flooding in
southern Japan through the weekend.

Kumamoto is about 890 kilometers (550 miles) southwest of Tokyo.