The heavy rains that have been hitting southwestern Japan since the weekend have forced the meteorological authorities to issue a special alert due to the risk of serious catastrophes, such as landslides or floods.
The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) issued the alert today for Fukuoka Prefecture at 6:40 in the Japanese morning (21:40 GMT) whose level corresponds to five, the highest on the scale of the country due to the risk of other types of catastrophes and damage to the population.
Through this notification, the JMA asks citizens to be extremely vigilant regarding landslides and possible flooding and, if they cannot move to a place for evacuation, to go to a large building or a hill that is located above from the second floor.
This alert is announced hours after a woman in her 70s died in her home after being trapped with her husband by a landslide and unable to be rescued until hours later, as detailed by the state chain NHK.
According to the Japanese authorities, heavy rains in the southwest of the country have also flooded several areas bathed by the Yamakuni River, which flows through Oita prefecture.
Following the announcement, the JMA and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism called a press conference for this morning to explain the situation and prospects for the coming days.
Authorities have already recommended this weekend the evacuation of 370,000 people, as well as the suspension of regional and high-speed train services, after rainfall of more than 100 millimeters was recorded over the course of six hours.
This rainy front that has been affecting the southern half of the Japanese archipelago has also left especially significant damage in the Shimane prefecture, where 20 river overflows and 15 landslide incidents were recorded.