Heavy rain hits western Japan, leaving 2 dead, 2 others missing+

TOKYO, July 14 Kyodo -
Torrential rain hit western Japan from Tuesday night to Wednesday, leaving two
women dead and two other people missing, and prompting local governments to
recommend that about 300,000 people evacuate from their homes amid flood
warnings.
Keiko Harada, 77, was confirmed dead after being pulled from a river in Mihara,
Hiroshima Prefecture.
In Kure, also in Hiroshima Prefecture, Kazue Takatani, 72, went missing after a
landslide. Rescue workers found her several hours later but she had lost
consciousness and was pronounced dead Wednesday night.
Local police in Hiroshima city initially said the weather led to the death of
an unidentified woman who had been swept away by a river, but later said she
had probably committed a suicide.
An 82-year-old man went missing in Tsuwano, Shimane Prefecture.
In Sera in the same prefecture, a 73-year-old woman is missing after three
other people were rescued from a house hit by a landslide.
In Wakayama, around 100 guests and employees at an inn were briefly isolated
after mudslides and fallen trees blocked traffic.
In Iida city and Tenryu town, both in Nagano Prefecture, landslides hit roads
isolating about 1,900 people in 880 households, but none was injured.
Among those subject to evacuation recommendations were about 125,000 people in
Fukuoka and Saga prefectures in northern Kyushu, including some places that
recorded more than 100 millimeters of rain per hour. Similar recommendations
were also issued in Hiroshima and Yamaguchi prefectures.
Heavy rain forced West Japan Railway Co. to suspend bullet train runs between
Hiroshima and Kokura in Fukuoka Prefecture for two and a half hours Wednesday
morning, affecting about 23,000 passengers.
It also affected other train traffic in western and southwestern Japanese
prefectures including Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Tokushima, Osaka and Kyoto.
Expressways were partially shut in Shimane, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi and Kyoto
prefectures.
The Japan Meteorological Agency forecast that heavy rain could hit western and
other parts of Japan on Thursday as well.
==Kyodo
2010-07-15 00:14:50