Latest news with #KumamotoPrefecture
NHK
a day ago
- Climate
- NHK
Kyushu rain leaves 1 dead, 2 without vital signs
Record rainfall triggered by a rain front has caused deadly floods and landslides across Japan's southwestern region of Kyushu, leaving at least one person dead and two others without vital signs. The rain has been pummeling Kagoshima, Fukuoka, Kumamoto and other prefectures since Friday. Some locations have had the highest rainfall since record-keeping began. A mudslide in Kagoshima's Aira City caused a house to collapse, killing one person. Kumamoto Prefecture officials say a man caught in a landslide in Kosa Town is in a state of cardiac arrest, and a woman has been found without vital signs in a car that plunged into an irrigation canal in Yatsushiro City. They say three people are missing. In Fukuoka's Fukutsu City, police and fire officials are searching for a man and a woman in their 60s reported to have been swept away by a river. Authorities say 681 houses have been inundated in Kagoshima, Fukuoka, Kumamoto, and damage assessments are underway. The rain front is expected to impact more areas, with bands of heavy rain clouds likely over Nagasaki Prefecture through Tuesday morning. The risk of rain-related disasters has risen in northern Kyushu as well as the Chugoku and Hokuriku regions. People in those areas are advised to be on high alert for landslides and other dangers.
NHK
a day ago
- Climate
- NHK
Reports of missing people, damage in Kumamoto
There has been a series of reports of people who have gone missing in the heavy rains hitting Kyushu. In the town of Kosa, Kumamoto Prefecture, firefighters rescued a woman and two children from a car. Another person has been rescued after a landslide in the same town, but their condition is yet to be confirmed. In Yatsushiro City, also in Kumamoto Prefecture, images taken at around 7 a.m. on Monday show that a road has caved in, and that two cars had become stuck in the earth and sand. According to a man from the fire brigade who took the photos, all the people in the cars escaped on their own. A video taken at a shopping street in Chuo Ward in Kumamoto City at around 3 a.m. shows people wading in water up to their knees. Other parts of Kyushu are also being affected. The police and fire department in Fukutsu City, Fukuoka Prefecture, say they received a report that a man and a woman in their 60s were swept away in a river and are missing. Kyushu Shinkansen bullet train services were suspended in both directions from the first train on Monday. According to JR Kyushu, all Kyushu Shinkansen services resumed shortly before 3 p.m.
NHK
27-05-2025
- Business
- NHK
Kumamoto shochu brewery hosts tasting event 5 years after rain disaster
A shochu brewery in southwestern Japan's Kumamoto Prefecture that was hit by record rainfall five years ago has hosted an event that allowed visitors to taste classic shochu spirits. Torrential rain hit the prefecture in July 2020 and turned the region into a disaster zone. The rainfall also damaged the production facility of the brewery in Hitoyoshi City. The tasting event, which was held at the brewery's compound on Sunday, allowed visitors to sample different shochu varieties and eat salt-grilled sweetfish. There was also a corner where visitors could enjoy tasting classic shochu, which has been matured in an earthen pot for about half a century. The pot survived the disaster unaffected. Photographs of the city at the time of the disaster were exhibited on the second floor of the building. A man in his 50s said the pictures reminded him of how the area was like five years ago. He said he recalls when he returned home in the evening at that time after temporary evacuation, the landscapes were just like those in the photographs. The brewery's president Tsutsumi Junko said her company is gradually recovering five years after the disaster. She added that she will continue with her efforts for the local community's reconstruction.
NHK
10-05-2025
- General
- NHK
Playing the right note, nine years after Kumamoto quake
A harmonica-wielding man in Kumamoto Prefecture is still soothing the hearts of his fellow residents, nine years after a devastating earthquake.
