Chiba Downpour Death Toll Rises to 9; 463 Still Evacuated

Chiba, Aug. 15 (Jiji Press)--The death toll from this week's record rain in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, has risen to nine, while one man is still missing, the prefectural government's disaster response headquarters said Saturday.

In the prefecture, a total of 463 people were still staying at 92 evacuation shelters as of 1 p.m., according to the prefectural headquarters.

On the day, a man in his 70s was found in an irrigation canal in the city of Isumi and later confirmed dead.

The nine victims also include a woman in her 70s who was found inside a minivehicle submerged up to its roof in the city of Kashiwa and a man in his 40s who was trapped in a flooded car in an underpass in the city of Chiba.

According to the Chiba city fire department, a man went missing after telling another man, in his 70s, who was calling for help from the roof of a flooded car that he would return with rescue equipment.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]