Heavy rain, floods leave four dead or missing in Japan
Pastor Dale Morgan
Heavy rain, floods leave four dead or missing in Japan*
TOKYO, Sept 19 (AFP) Sep 19, 2007
Torrential rain in northern Japan has killed at least one person and
left three others missing, officials said Wednesday, as the farm
ministry tried to calculate damage done to crops before the harvest.
The heavy rain, brought on by Typhoon Wipha which made landfall in
eastern China on Wednesday, led thousands of Japanese to flee their
homes, as rice fields and fruit farms suffered severe damage, government
agencies said.
An 87-year-old man died on Tuesday at an evacuation facility in Akita
prefecture apparently due to a heart attack, according to the Fire and
Disaster Management Agency.
One woman motorist has been missing in Akita since late Monday, while a
man delivering newspapers on his motorcycle in adjacent Iwate prefecture
has been missing since early Tuesday, according to local emergency agencies.
Both of them are believed to have been swept away by flooding rivers.
A farmer in Iwate was also reported missing late Tuesday.
Authorities ordered more than 8,000 people to evacuate and advised
another 5,000 people to do the same across northern Japan.
The rains, which were waning Wednesday, have caused serious damage to
fruits, rice and other crops in the region, known for its agricultural
products.
"We just began collecting fresh data about the damage done by the rain.
We know significant damage was done to a lot of rice crops and physical
damage done to farmlands," said an official with the agriculture ministry.