TOKYO: Record-breaking rainfall that pounded cities east of Tokyo overnight flooded roads and dozens of homes, stranded thousands of people, caused power outages and left at least five people dead and one missing.
The Japan Meteorological Agency downgraded its most severe warning for heavy rain in more than a dozen municipalities in Chiba prefecture as rain subsided Friday morning but forecast more rain later in the day.
Photos and television footage showed widespread damage after daylight with homes, cars and parts of railway tracks flooded with muddy water.
The Ground Self-Defense Force said it dispatched buses to pick up about 4,000 stranded people who stayed overnight at the Soga train station, a local route that also serves Tokyo Disney, an operation finished later Friday. The theme park did not report any damage.
Thousands of people who were stuck overnight at the Narita airport serving the Tokyo region gradually left as train service partially resumed Friday morning with delays.
Flights in and out of Narita were operating normally Friday, with many people returning home at the end of Japan's Bon Buddhist holiday week.
Hundreds of people took shelter overnight at the Chiba prefectural government building.
The prefecture said five people were found dead and another person was missing. The victims included a man found floating on a flooded road in Ichikawa city and a woman who had been stuck in a flooded car in Sakura city. Two people were presumed dead after being pulled from flooded cars in Kashiwa city and in Chiba.
More than 170 homes were flooded in the prefecture and more than 300 people were taking shelter at public facilities as of Friday afternoon, Chiba officials said.
The torrential rain and flooding also knocked out power to about 18,000 homes Friday morning, down from 68,000 earlier, according to the TEPCO Power Grid.
Record-breaking rainfall of 11.5 centimeters (4.5 inches) fell in just one hour in Chiba City and 9.7 centimeters (3.8 inches) fell in one hour in Sakura, which was also a record. JMA forecast official Takuya Hosomi told a televised emergency news conference that unprecedented levels of rainfall were recorded.
