Hundreds of thousands of residents across the Hokuriku region were subject to evacuation orders on Thursday as torrential rain caused rivers to overflow and houses to be inundated while travelers were rescued out of cars submerged in water.
The weather agency issued the highest-level emergency rain warning for heavy rain in parts of Ishikawa and Toyama prefectures, before downgrading them to Level 3 in the evening.
The Level 5 warning was issued for the city of Hakui and the towns of Shika, Hodatsushimizu and Nakanoto, all in Ishikawa Prefecture, as well as the city of Himi in Toyama Prefecture. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) describes the warning level as indicating a life-threatening situation, urging local residents to immediately ensure their safety.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.