8 dead, 6 missing due to heavy rain in western Japan

TOKYO, July 16 Kyodo -
The death toll from heavy rain hitting western Japan over a period of three
days from Wednesday has reached eight, while at least six people remain missing
in Gifu, Hiroshima, Shimane and Gunma prefectures, local authorities said
Friday.
Separately in the city of Shobara, Hiroshima Prefecture, four people in three
households were unaccounted for as of late Friday night after torrential rain
flooded a river and caused a heavy mudslide in the evening, prompting the
municipal government to ask for rescue operations by an 80-strong Ground
Self-Defense Force disaster relief team.
In Matsue, Shimane Prefecture, three members of a family were buried under a
collapsed house after two 4-meter-wide rocks from a mountain slope hit it at
around 2 a.m. Friday, and 7-year-old Ryoga Kusamoto and his mother Rumiko, 37,
were confirmed dead in hospital, police said.
Rumiko's daughter, 11-year-old Mizuki, was rescued around three hours after the
family was buried under the house.
According to the local observatory, accumulated rainfall around the disaster
site since last Saturday had exceeded 200 millimeters, but there has been no
heavy rain since Thursday morning.
A 41-year-old man, his 73-year-old father and 72-year-old mother were found
dead Friday afternoon in a house that collapsed Thursday in mudslides in
Yaotsu, Gifu Prefecture, according to local authorities.
In Kani, also in Gifu, two people were missing as streets were flooded with
water. Authorities learned Friday morning that a 54-year-old company employee
is also unaccounted for.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan will go to Gifu on Sunday to meet with evacuees and
others, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said at a news conference.
Two rain-related deaths were reported in Hiroshima Prefecture on Wednesday.
In Shobara, about 350 people were briefly cut off, including 12 workers at a
dam construction site, while witnesses said some people were awaiting rescue on
the roofs or second floors of their homes. Local authorities said the flood
that occurred in the city swept away three houses and caused two people to be
buried under homes.
Police and local government officials were working into late Friday night
scrambling to gather information about the disaster.
The Japan Meteorological Agency called for people to maintain vigilance for
further landslides as the heavy rain has loosened ground in some areas.
==Kyodo