Chiba Downpour Leaves 5 Dead, 2 in Cardiopulmonary Arrest

Chiba, Aug. 14 (Jiji Press)--Heavy rain that struck Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, on Thursday evening has left five people dead and two others in cardiopulmonary arrest before subsiding in the small hours of Friday, the prefectural government's disaster response headquarters said.

The maximum Level 5 emergency heavy rain warnings issued for 22 municipalities in the prefecture and Level 5 emergency landslide warnings for six municipalities were downgraded to Level 4 or lower warnings at 5:15 a.m. Friday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

Since atmospheric conditions will likely remain unstable through early Saturday in the Kanto-Koshin eastern to central regions, including Chiba, the agency urged the public to remain on high alert for landslides, swollen rivers, inundation of low-lying areas and flooding.

As of 5 p.m. Friday, two people have been confirmed dead in the city of Sakura, and one each in the cities of Chiba, Ichikawa and Yachiyo, according to the disaster response headquarters. Two others, one in the city of Chiba and the other in the city of Kashiwa, are in a state of cardiopulmonary arrest. One person is unaccounted for in the city of Chiba, the capital of the prefecture.

A total of 359 evacuation centers were set up in the prefecture, sheltering 7,359 people from 3,855 households.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]